Do you really know about occupational diseases?

What are the types and hazards of occupational diseases? How should we diagnose and identify occupational diseases if we suspect we have them? The reporter interviewed Xiao Xiongbin, chief expert of Hunan Provincial Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment.

Xiao Xiongbin said that in order to constitute an occupational disease as stipulated in the "Occupational Disease Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China", three conditions must be met: first, the subject must be a worker of an enterprise, institution or individual economic organization; second, it must be caused by occupational hazard factors such as exposure to dust, radioactive substances and other toxic and harmful substances in occupational activities; third, it must be an occupational disease listed in the "Classification and Catalog of Occupational Diseases".

How to prevent occupational diseases? Xiao Xiongbin suggested that we follow the "three-level" prevention principle. The first-level prevention is to start from the root, so that workers are not exposed to occupational hazards as much as possible, or to control the level of harmful factors in the workplace within the limit allowed by health standards. The second-level prevention is to implement health monitoring for workers, early detection of occupational damage, timely treatment, effective treatment, and prevention of further development of the disease. The third-level prevention is to actively treat patients who have already suffered from occupational diseases and promote health.

Xiao Xiongbin reminded that if workers suspect that they have an occupational disease, or if they are suspected of having an occupational disease after an occupational health examination, they can go to an occupational disease diagnosis institution in the location of the employer, the place of their household registration, or the place of their habitual residence for occupational disease diagnosis. The list of occupational disease diagnosis institutions, addresses, diagnosis items and other related information are announced by the local health administrative department, and they can be consulted with the relevant departments. In order to fully protect the legitimate rights and interests of workers in occupational disease diagnosis and identification, my country implements a "one diagnosis, two-level identification" system.

Occupational diseases are mainly prevented. We must fully understand the hazards of occupational diseases and ensure the health of the majority of workers. In order to let everyone better understand the knowledge of occupational disease prevention and treatment, Xinhua News Agency reporters and experts have produced a group of small cartoons. Let's take a look.

Reporter: Shuai Cai, Liu Liangheng

Reporters: Wen Na, Zhang Yulu

Thanks: Hunan Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment

Source: Xinhua News Agency