【Basic Knowledge of Occupational Health】Occupational Diseases

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This post was last edited by slll611 on 2016-3-10 22:13. What are occupational diseases? The Law on the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases defines occupational diseases as those illnesses that occur to workers in enterprises, institutions, individual economic organizations, and other employers as a result of exposure to dust, radioactive substances, and other toxic and harmful factors during their occupational activities. GBZ188-2014 \"Technical Specifications for Occupational Health Surveillance\" defines it as diseases that occur among workers in enterprises, institutions, individual economic organizations, and other employers as a result of exposure to dust, radioactive substances, and other toxic and harmful factors during their occupational activities. The two are exactly the same; they are merely diseases caused by exposure to dust, radioactive substances, and other toxic and harmful factors. Generally speaking, only diseases that meet the requirements of laws can be considered occupational diseases. The diagnosis of occupational diseases is generally carried out by units authorized by health administrative departments and equipped with appropriate specialized facilities. The most common occupational diseases include pneumoconiosis, occupational poisoning, and occupational skin diseases. Diagnosing an occupational disease is crucial for determining whether workers can receive appropriate labor insurance benefits; therefore, it is not only a medical issue but also relates to the proper implementation of labor protection policies. Generally speaking, an accurate diagnosis relies on the following three conditions: (1) Occupational history, which includes information such as the type of work performed, the frequency and extent of exposure to occupational hazards (the simplest indicator being years of experience in that field), as well as environmental conditions. To gain a thorough understanding of the causes of the disease, in addition to verbal inquiries, it is sometimes necessary to conduct on-site observations in order to reach a correct conclusion. Information regarding exposure history should not be limited to qualitative descriptions; it should also be quantitative, in the form of environmental monitoring data or records of years of service. (II) Physical examination: It is similar to the methods used in general clinical practice; however, for diseases caused by certain types of occupational factors, if the occupational history is clear, specific tests can be selected for focused examination based on the characteristics of the disease. (III) Laboratory tests: For some occupational diseases, the clinical symptoms are not obvious, and laboratory tests are often relied on for diagnosis. The main types of such tests include: ① Measuring harmful substances in biological materials to determine the amount absorbed by the body, such as the level of heavy metals in urine, hair, nails, etc ； ②It measures the amount of metabolites that are absorbed into the body and then excreted after metabolism; for example, after the absorption of benzene derivatives, phenol, hippuric acid, or methylhippuric acid in urine can be measured separately ； ③It involves determining the biochemical or cellular morphological changes in the body as a result of exposure to occupational hazards; for example, blood tests are conducted on those exposed to benzene, and bone marrow examinations may be performed if necessary. Based on the information obtained from these three aspects and through comprehensive analysis, a diagnostic conclusion is reached. For chronic occupational diseases, long-term dynamic follow-up is often required to arrive at a final judgment. For clinical manifestations whose causes have not been identified, it is necessary to rule out diseases other than occupational factors; this is an important approach in the diagnosis of occupational diseases. At this stage, in addition to using the information from these three aspects for comprehensive analysis, occupational epidemiological methods can also be employed for identification.