- Physical overload diseases Physical overload is often the cause of occupational diseases. For example, computer work causes tension in the hands, neck and shoulder girdle. Important physical factors in the working environment also include strenuous physical work, lifting weights and working in cold and humid environments. Lung diseases Lung diseases can be caused by a number of working environment hazards, such as mineral dust, aerosols and gases from toxic substances, and strenuous physical work with poor weather conditions.
- Hearing impairments Noise-induced hearing loss still occurs today, although noise levels can already be controlled quite effectively with a variety of collective and personal protective equipment. Noise-induced hearing loss is also affected by age, exposure to neurotoxic chemicals, individual characteristics and non-occupational noise sources.
- Occupational skin diseases If a skin disease is proven to be caused by occupational contact with an allergen or toxic substance, an occupational disease can be diagnosed. This may be due to working in rubber shoes in humid and warm conditions, prolonged pressure from the working position or tool, etc.
- Occupational diseases caused by chemical hazards in the working environment Chemicals can cause damage to the skin, nails and upper and lower respiratory tract. Poisonings are less common. Skin lesions and allergic occupational diseases are more common. Skin damage can be caused by acid and alkaline solutions and by oil and coal products, arsenic compounds or gasoline. Calcium hypochlorite causes nail damage.
Work-related cancer
It is wise to think ahead
Silja Soon, Head of the Supervisory Department of the Labour Inspectorate
A good employer is one who creates a good working environment for their employees – we hear a similar idea more and more often. One would think that we are living in the 21st century and that everything should be so good and safe. Competition in the labour market is one of the main reasons that has brought the issue of a good working environment so much into focus. People have also become smarter and are able to value working safely and healthily. However, it must be said more and more that working must be safe to the health of the worker. In Estonia, the diagnosis of occupational diseases and work-related illnesses is rather modest. Similar figures in Europe suggest that in reality it is a serious problem. One of the main work-related diagnoses in Europe is cancer. In the case of more than half of work-related illnesses that have resulted in death, the diagnosis has been cancer. Cancer is a very serious disease that does not occur overnight. It can start to develop from the first working day and only manifest itself before retirement.
The morbidity has doubled
Cancer statistics are a concern not only for many families, but also for the state. The number of first cases is increasing year by year, and in 50 years the incidence of cancer has essentially doubled. Around 30–40% of cancer cases are related to human health behaviours that can be avoided by making healthy choices.
The diagnosis of a malignant tumour frightens both the patient and their family members. According to the data of the Estonian Cancer Registry, in 2015, 658.9 new cases of cancer were diagnosed per 100,000 inhabitants for all site groups. As of the end of the same year, there were more than 57,000 people in the Estonian population who had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour. This number is higher than the population of Pärnu.
Cancer is never a simple disease with a single cause or treatment. Of course, the risk largely depends on a combination of several different factors – human health behaviour, genetic and individual factors and/or exposure to various carcinogenic substances or processes in the environment.
An adult spends much of their time at work, and it would be wrong to think that the working environment does not affect our health. According to Eurostat, more than 30 million tonnes of carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances are produced in Europe each year. Many of these substances end up in the working environment. In Finland, work-related cancer cases account for 5.3–8.4% of all cancers. In the UK, 4% of new cancer cases are related to the working environment and its risk factors. Many Estonian oncologists believe that about 4% of cancer cases in Estonia can also be work-related. This is a hypothetical estimate because we do not yet collect data on the possible links between work and cancer.
However, in addition to chemicals, there are also biological, physical, and organisational factors that cause tumours. For example, excessive sedentary work is considered to be associated with a risk of cancer, as well as static strain or staying in a forced position for too long. The peculiarity of work organisation is also considered a risk factor, where the biggest problem when working in shifts is the disturbance of the human circadian rhythm. Studies show that nurses working night shifts are more likely to have breast cancer.
EU-OSHA sources from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work also point to the interaction of various risk factors in the working environment. For example, the interaction of ultraviolet radiation, some chemicals and medicinal products. An illustrative example here is summer road construction, which uses heavy equipment and hot bitumen. If the weather also happens to be hot and the workers have taken off their shirts, all the conditions for the creation of melanoma are present. They work in the sun, and in the heat the emission of hazardous substances increases four times.
What can you do to try to prevent cancer?
There are many preventive measures and they always focus on the specific risk factor. When using chemicals, care must be taken to replace hazardous chemicals with safer ones, and to ensure that work processes are airtight. Appropriate personal protective equipment must be used, proper training and strict adherence to safety requirements are required. However, the most important measure is work organisation – normal alternation of working and rest time, adequate rest, prevention of overtime.
Again, the accumulation of problems can be avoided with appropriate training, and the worker must be assured that they are not alone if they have a work-related concern or problem.
