Occupational diseases in transport workers in the Arctic

Introduction. Efficient functioning of the transport system is impossible without maintaining the health of the workers employed in it. The aim of the study was to analyze the causes, number and structure of occupational diseases among transport workers in the Russian Arctic. Materials and methods. We studied data of the socio-hygienic monitoring "Working conditions and occupational morbidity" and the Register of extracts from occupational disease records (Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation No. 176 dated May 28, 2001) of the population of the Russian Arctic in 2007-2021. Results. In 2007-2021, 749 occupational diseases were detected for the first time among transport workers, which accounted for 7.24% of their total number in the Russian Arctic. 74.4% accounted for air transport workers, 19.9% for road transport, 3.7% for water transport, and 2.0% for railway transport. The main harmful factor that caused occupational pathology was noise (82.0%), while the largest share in the structure of occupational pathology was taken by sensorineural hearing loss (81.0%). Significant differences in the causes, number and structure of occupational pathology among workers of four types of transport have been established. The highest levels of occupational morbidity among transport workers are observed in the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Okrugs (35.66 and 20.62 cases / 10,000 workers, respectively). Conclusion. In the Russian Arctic, occupational pathology among transport workers is formed mainly among civil aviation workers (74.4% of cases), and the highest levels of occupational morbidity are noted in the Nenets and Chukotka Autonomous Regions. Despite the ongoing preventive measures, noise remains the main factor in the structure of harmful factors (82.0%), and sensorineural hearing loss (81.0%) continues to be the most prevalent occupational disease.