Occupational Disease as the Bane of Workers’ Lives: A Chronological Review of the Literature and Study of Its Development in Slovakia. Part 1

Abstract

This article not only offers a chronological overview of the development of occupational medicine, but also offers a summary of occupational diseases recommended by the ILO and legislative decisions that have influenced how we approach assessment today. We consider that these areas form a whole in which they cannot function without each other and they would lose their relevance if the system was collapsed. By excluding even one part of it, we would find ourselves at the beginning of the era of occupational medicine, and a large number of employees would once again be exposed to conditions that previously led to considerable illness and mortality of employees. The article also examines legislation and the development of occupational diseases in Slovakia in the period 1997–2019. Using basic statistical methods and time series, a trend model for the time series of the development of the number of occupational diseases over the last 20 years is created. The modeling also includes a forecast for the development of the number of occupational diseases for the next 5 years. The model created shows a favorable, decreasing trend in the number of occupational diseases in Slovakia.

Occupational Disease as the Bane of Workers’ Lives: A Study of Its Incidence in Slovakia. Part 2

“…The research focused on selected items (diseases) from the list of occupational diseases in Slovakia that are directly related to physical factors in the working environment, known as (sd-PF). These are one-sided loads on the limbs (Item 29), damage caused by excessive vibration (Item 28), noise (Item 38), or dust (Items 33–34); see also [ 15 ]. The aim of the research was to: analyse the incidence of recognised selected occupational diseases (1997–2019); analyse the incidence of occupational diseases in terms of selected indicators (1997–2019); compare the regions of Slovakia in terms of the selected variables.…”

“…Pneumoconiosis (Items 33–34) [ 15 ] has the lowest number of reported cases in each year of the reporting period. The average annual number of reported cases is 24.…”

“…The research focused on selected items (diseases) from the list of occupational diseases in Slovakia that are directly related to physical factors in the working environment, known as (sd-PF). These are one-sided loads on the limbs (Item 29), damage caused by excessive vibration (Item 28), noise (Item 38), or dust (Items 33-34); see also [15]. The aim of the research was to:…”

“…A number of factors that may affect hearing loss are known, for example race, gender, age [21,22], smoking [23,24], hypersensitivity to noise [25], previous noise exposure [26,27], hypertension [28], synergistic effects [29], and others. An important step in assessing the effects of noise is also proposing measures to reduce it; Moravec et al (2017Moravec et al ( , 2021 [30,31]. Employees who are exposed to hand and arm vibrations are also exposed to high noise levels.…”

“…In most developing countries around the world, there is generally an acute shortage of doctors and OHS services. Piňosová et al (2021) [ 15 ] compiled a detailed chronological overview of the literature on the development of occupational diseases and the historical development of the ILO.…”