Features of Common and Occupational Pathology in Heavy Dump Truck Drivers of Open Apatite Mines in the Arctic

Abstract

Drivers of mining dump trucks are a group of highly qualified specialists whose training requires considerable time and financial costs. We investigate the working conditions, general and occupational pathology of the dump truck drivers of the open apatite mines in the Arctic. We carried out the analysis of working conditions and health status of 475 dump truck drivers and 534 miners of other occupations of open apatite mines, as well as the information on the occupational pathology of that workers group in 2007–2017. It has been established that the typical feature of health disorders in the dump truck drivers is the frequent development of obesity (22.9 % of workers), and occupational pathology which is in most cases due to imperfect technological processes (67.3 %), leading to an increased severity of labor and exposure to whole-body vibration. The most prevalent occupational diseases of drivers are vibration disease (36.5 %), radiculopathy (25.8 %) and mono-polyneuropathy (20.1 %). The risk of occupational pathology among truckers is higher than that one for miners of other specialties: RR = 1.35; DI 1.04-1.74. Measures aimed at health preservation of dump truck drivers should include the correction of food and work regimes, the improvement of technological processes during the transportation of ore raw materials targeted at reducing the severity of labor and harmful effects of whole-body vibration.