Stay away from occupational diseases, start from these three aspects | "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law" Promotion Week

The 21st Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law Publicity Week will be held from April 25 to May 1, 2023. The theme of this year's event is: improving the working environment and conditions and protecting the physical and mental health of workers.

The quality of working environment and conditions is closely related to the health of workers. A bad working environment will threaten the health of workers and even cause occupational diseases.

How much do you know about occupational diseases? How can we improve the working environment and conditions to keep workers away from occupational diseases?

Which diseases are occupational diseases?

In daily work and life, we often hear the term occupational disease, but many people have a distorted understanding of occupational diseases and do not understand its exact meaning. According to the "Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases", only the diseases listed in the "Classification and Catalog of Occupational Diseases" formulated by the health administrative department of the State Council in conjunction with the labor and social security administrative department of the State Council are statutory occupational diseases.

The current "Classification and Catalog of Occupational Diseases" includes 132 occupational diseases in 10 categories, including occupational pneumoconiosis and other respiratory diseases. It can be seen that occupational diseases are not a single disease. They refer to diseases caused by workers in enterprises, institutions and individual economic organizations who are exposed to dust, radioactive substances and other toxic and harmful substances during their occupational activities.

Beware of these "invisible killers"

my country has the largest number of workers in the world. At present, the average life expectancy in my country is about 78 years old. If we calculate the working time from 18 to 60 years old, about half of the time is spent at work. A good working environment and conditions are crucial to the physical and mental health of workers.

Improving the working environment and conditions is a preventive measure targeting the source of occupational hazards and is the first line of defense in preventing occupational diseases and protecting the physical and mental health of workers.

Occupational hazards have clear causes, are preventable and controllable. By controlling occupational hazard factors, we can prevent the occurrence of occupational hazards. Occupational hazard factors include various harmful chemical, physical and biological factors in occupational activities, as well as other occupational hazards generated during the operation process. The sources include three aspects: production process, production environment and working conditions.

Play the "Trilogy" to stay away from occupational diseases

As the responsible party for occupational disease prevention and control, employers should improve the working environment and conditions from three aspects of occupational hazards and protect the physical and mental health of workers. This is both their duty and the law.

one

Production process control "responsibility song" - control the concentration or intensity of hazardous factors

Focus on improving the production process environment, especially key workplaces that may lead to occupational diseases.

First , reasonable, effective and complete occupational disease protection facilities should be set up for the sources of occupational disease hazards, and records should be kept. In the daily operation process, timely maintenance, inspection and regular testing should be carried out.

Second, a bulletin board should be set up in a conspicuous location in the workshop to publish relevant regulations and systems on occupational disease prevention and control, operating procedures, emergency rescue measures for occupational disease hazard accidents, and detection results of occupational disease hazard factors in the workplace; if highly toxic substances are present, a highly toxic substance notification card should also be set up to provide detailed information on the name, physical and chemical properties, health hazards, protective measures and emergency response of highly toxic substances.

Third, do a good job in daily occupational disease hazard monitoring or regular testing. If the test results do not meet the requirements of the national occupational health standards, corresponding treatment measures should be taken immediately; if the requirements of the national occupational health standards are still not met after treatment, the relevant operations must be stopped until the treatment meets the requirements before resuming operations.

two

The “March” to Improve the Production Environment – ​​Reducing Exposure to Hazardous Factors

Focus on improving the production environment, including production workplaces or adjacent areas that may have adverse effects on workers’ health.

First, adopt new technologies, new processes, new materials and new equipment that are beneficial to protecting the health of workers, and gradually eliminate and replace technologies, processes, materials and equipment that produce occupational hazards.

Second, we will continue to promote occupational hazard protection facilities, such as ventilation devices, dust collectors, soundproof enclosures, shock absorbers, etc., to reduce the concentration or intensity of harmful substances in the workplace.

Third, in terms of production processes and equipment layout, measures such as building partitions and protective facilities partitions are taken to separate harmful operations from harmless operations, avoiding the impact of occupational hazards generated in adjacent areas on workers.

Fourth, in terms of equipment inspection and maintenance, we should focus on preventive maintenance, strengthen the investigation and treatment of hidden dangers, gradually realize real-time monitoring and dynamic control of equipment operation status, and improve the level of equipment maintenance.

Fifth, for the prevention of chemical harmful factors, in addition to considering respiratory inhalation, the hazards caused by multiple pathways of absorption through the skin and digestive tract should be comprehensively considered. By setting up changing rooms, bathing rooms, drinking water facilities, dining places, rest rooms, etc. that meet hygienic requirements, the comprehensive hazards caused by multiple pathways of contact can be further reduced.

three

Theme song for optimizing working conditions: reducing the incidence of work-related diseases

Rationally analyze and improve work tools and equipment from the perspective of ergonomics to provide appropriate temperature, humidity and lighting in the workplace.

For manual handling operations, employers need to equip cranes, hydraulic lifts, lifting platforms, conveyor belts, trolleys and other mechanical devices to carry heavy objects. They also need to consider placing commonly used materials and tools in areas that are convenient for workers to access.

For precision operations, the unit needs to provide hand support devices; for seated work, the height of the workbench should be around the height of the elbow joint; for standing work, the height of the hand should be slightly lower than the level of the elbow joint. It is recommended to use an adjustable workbench, or equip it with an adjustable footrest, etc.; for squatting work, equip or carry a cushion of appropriate height at the work location where squatting is required.

Author: Cai Liangong Wenna, Hunan Provincial Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment

Review: Experts from the National Health Science Expert Database

Sun Xin, Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention