Working conditions and occupational health risks of open-pit mining machinery operators

In this work, we carry out a hygienic assessment of working conditions at modern ore-pit mines and reveal an integrated impact of dust, gas, noise, vibration, and microclimate factors on machinery operators. The classes of working conditions for employees are identified; the results of a special assessment of working conditions are provided. Over the past seven years, an analysis of occupational morbidity at open-pit mines, which are members of the Mining and Metallurgy Trade Union of Russia, is presented. The results obtained were used to analyze the materials of medical examinations at the JSC Lebedinsky Mining and Processing Plant in order to assess the prevalence and risk of developing chronic general somatic diseases among mining machinery operators. It was found that the total morbidity rates for all chronic somatic diseases were significantly higher among mining machinery operators compared to the control group. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system (26.8%) and circulatory system (24.6%) occupy a leading place in the structure of chronic general somatic morbidity.