Hygienic approaches to the assessment of occupational morbidity in the Republic of Bashkortostan in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the tense economic and epidemiological conditions that have developed in the country, Rospotrebnadzor bodies and Occupational Pathology Centers in the Republic of Bashkortostan consider monitoring and analysis of the state of the production environment, indicators of occupational morbidity to be significant areas of their activities.
 Aim: to study the state of working conditions and occupational morbidity in the Republic of Bashkortostan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methods: The analysis of the main hygienic parameters of harmful factors of the production environment, indicators of occupational morbidity at industrial and agricultural enterprises of the Republic of Belarus for 2020-2021 was carried out.
 Results: According to the data of the Rospotrebnadzor Department for the Republic of Bashkortostan, the number of objects with the status of extremely high and high risk at enterprises of the manufacturing, agricultural sectors and the construction industry is significantly higher than the national average. In the same industries, the largest number of jobs have been registered that do not meet the hygienic standards in terms of qualitative and quantitative characteristics. The most harmful production factors affecting the formation of the working environment at almost all industrial and agricultural facilities of the republic are factors of the physical nature and the labor process and, as a consequence, the development of occupational diseases in workers. During the period 2020-2021, 122 cases of occupational diseases and poisoning were registered in the republic. For the first time in the practice of hygienists and occupational pathologists of the republic, the biological factor had a significant impact on the qualitative and quantitative components of occupational morbidity.
 Conclusions: Against the background of the ongoing pandemic of a new coronavirus infection, there is a deterioration in working conditions and occupational health of workers, which requires the development of effective mechanisms that provide for the responsibility of interested government agencies and employers for the attitude to the working environment and the health of workers.