WORKING CONDITIONS AND MORBIDITY OF GAS-TRANSPORT COMPANY WORKERS IN THE EXTREME NORTH EQUIVALENT AREA

Working conditions and morbidity among major occupational groups of a gas-transport company situated in the KOMI Republic of the Far North region of the Russian Federation have been analyzed. Prevalence of diseases in the primary morbidity structure is as follows: respiratory diseases (20.0 %), circulation diseases (14.5 %), musculoskeletal diseases (12.5 %), gastrointestinal diseases (9.6 %). Morbidity structure according to the number of temporary disability cases is different: respiratory (42.7 %), musculoskeletal (17.3 %), circulation (7.4 %), and gastrointestinal diseases (4.3 %). Morbidity among the gas-transport company workers was found to be higher than throughout the entire Komi adult population and among similar plant workers in the southern regions. Such evidence might be caused by the unfavorable effects of severe climate and by the specific character of the medical service at the northern gas-transport plant that registers diseases among workers more thoroughly. The increased cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal disease incidence is observed among the gas-transport company workers exposed to noise and hot microclimate. The unfavorable effect of the mentioned adverse occupational agents is potentiated by smoking and irrational nutrition habits. Morbidity among the administrative officers of the gas-transport company is less than among the workers and engineer personnel exposed to harmful working conditions. The latter fact might result from the lowest harmful occupational exposure of the administrative staff and their most consistent participation in health improvement programs at industry-sponsored health care institutions.

gas-transport plant, working conditions, morbidity, health, disability, the Far North