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Occupational Health a Manual for Primary Health Care Workers

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Occupational Health a Manual for Primary Health Care Workers WHO-EM/OCH/85/E/L Distribution: Limited Occupational health A manual for primary health care workers World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean WHO-EM/OCH/85/E/L Distribution: Limited Occupational health A manual for primary health care workers World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean Cairo 2001 © World Health Organization 2001 This document is not issued to the general public and all rights are reserved by the World Health Organization (WHO). The document may not be reviewed, abstracted, quoted, reproduced or translated, in part or in whole, without the prior written permission of WHO. No part of this document may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical or otherwithout the prior written permission of WHO. The views expressed in documents by named authors are solely the responsibility of those authors. Design by John Shimwell, EDR/EMRO Document WHO-EM/OCH/085/E/L/04.01/2000 Contents Foreword 7 Preface 9 Introduction 13 Trainers Guide 21 Module 1 Work environment 27 1. Objectives 27 2. Introduction and basic concepts 27 3. Recognition of health hazards 28 4. Evaluation of Health Hazards 36 5. Controlling hazards 39 6. Tasks for trainees 40 Appendix 1.1 Potentially hazardous operations and associated air contaminants 41 Appendix 1.2 An occupational hygiene survey check list 42 Module 2 Occupational and other work-related diseases 45 1. Objectives 45 2. Introduction and basic concepts 46 3. Occupational diseases 47 4. Work-related diseases 69 5. Tasks for trainees 74 Module 3 Early detection of occupational diseases 77 1. Objectives 77 2. Introduction and basic concepts 77 3. Early detection of occupational diseases caused by physical factors 79 4. Early detection of occupational diseases caused by biological agents 80 5. Early detection of occupational diseases caused by chemicals 80 6. Tasks for trainees 86 Module 4 Occupational ergonomics 87 1. Objectives 87 2. Introduction and basic concepts 87 3. Ergonomics: a multidisciplinary science 89 4. Tasks for trainees 95 Module 5 Stress and adverse psychological factors at work 97 1. Objectives 97 2. introduction and basic concepts 97 3. prevention and control of stress 100 4. Principles of job design 101 5. Tasks for trainees 102 Module 6 Occupational safety and accident prevention 103 1. Objectives 103 2. Introduction and basic concepts 103 3. Recording and investigating accidents 107 4. Accident rates 108 5. Prevention and control of occupational accidents 109 6. Tasks for trainees 110 Module 7 First aid and its practice 113 1. Objectives 113 2. Importance of first aid 113 3. Injuries 113 4. Fractures 116 5. Thermal injuries 117 6. Poisoning 119 7. Haemorrhage 119 8. Shock 120 9. Impaired breathing 120 10. Tasks for trainees 120 Module 8 Health education in occupational health 121 1. Objectives 121 2. Occupational diseases 121 3. Occupational accidents 122 4. Work environment and control measures in the workplace 124 5. Prevention of occupational diseases and accidents 126 6. Legislation 127 7. Effects of lifestyle and behaviour on health 127 8. Health education in the workplace 128 9. Health education methods and aids 130 10. Communication skills in health education 132 11. Tasks for trainees 133 Module 9 Epidemiology and biostatistics in occupational health 135 1. Objectives 135 2. definitions 135 3. Biostatistical data 137 4. Types of epidemiological study 138 5. Common measures of disease frequency 139 6. Tasks for trainees 140 Module 10 Record keeping 143 1. Objectives 143 2. Purpose and types of record 143 3. Record keeping 145 4. Tasks for trainees 146 Module 11 Occupational health in special areas 147 1. Mining 147 2. Small-scale industry 150 3. Agricultural and rural areas 152 Module 12 Occupational health for women and children 159 1. Working women 159 2. Child labour 165 Further reading 173 FOREWORD A healthy workforce is vital for sustainable social and economic development on a global, national, and local level. The classic approach to ensuring health and safety in the workplace has depended mainly on the enactment of legislation and inspection of workplaces to ensure compliance with health and safety standards. While this approach has been effective in controlling many specific occupational hazards since the Industrial Revolution, it has not been very effective in the past several decades, particularly in developing countries, for several reasons. First, the development of private enterprise, resulting in a proliferation of small and medium-sized workplaces, has meant that in many instances production occurs in the workers own homes where there can be serious health hazards, including harmful dust, chemicals, noise and heat. Inspection of such workplaces is largely impossible in view of the large numbers and wide distribution. Second, with the introduction of new agricultural techniques, agriculture has become an industry for which systems based on inspection are inadequate. There is a need to develop other systems to protect the health of agricultural workers. Third, occupational health problems have gradually increased in type and magnitude and have led to or aggravated diseases resulting from exposure to several risk factors, only one of which being the work environment. Examples include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which is mainly caused by smoking but may be aggravated by irritant gases or dusts in the workplace. Low-back pain syndrome has several risk factors including rheumatic disorders, scoliosis and inappropriate posture at work. The Declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978 led to the recognition of the importance of primary health care (PHC) workers and community health workers in bringing health care to where people live and work. PHC and community health care workers in most developing countries are not trained in the special needs of workers nor in the simple measures that can be taken to prevent or overcome and control many workers health problems. World Health Assembly resolution WHA 40.28 (1987) requested the Director- General of the World Health Organization to develop guidelines on training of PHC workers in occupational health. The Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean at its 38th session in 1991 passed resolution EM/RC.38/R.8 urging Member States in the Region to include in primary health care services elements of occupational health. In response, the Regional Office, through a Regional Consultation (Amman, Jordan, 2629 May, 1997) called for the development of a training manual which would enable PHC workers and community health workers to recognize the most common hazards in the workplace, know how to prevent and control them and use the support system available to them for referral and consultation. Highly qualified experts in the field of occupational health have contributed to the development of this manual, which we hope will meet the needs of Member States 8 Occupational health training manual for primary health care workers in their efforts to include occupational health in the PHC services. I hope this simple, task-oriented publication will be useful not only for PHC workers and their trainers at all levels but also for all specialists and interested authorities. Hussein A. Gezairy MD, FRCS WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean PREFACE WHO policy has, since its foundation, always included elements of occupational health issues. Numerous key WHO documents and bodies, e.g. the WHO Constitution, the Declaration of Alma Ata, the Health for All Strategy, the General Programmes of Work and several resolutions of the World Health Assembly, WHOs Global Healthy Work Approach (HWA), the meetings of the network of WHO Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health, the Executive Board, the Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean Region and other Regional Committees, have all emphasized the need to protect and promote health and safety at work through the prevention and control of hazards in the work environment and through the promotion of health and the work capacity of working people. The WHO Global Strategy for Occupational Health for All, developed through the global network of the WHO Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health provides an important mechanism for protecting and promoting health at work. According to the Declaration of Alma-Ata, 1978: Primary health care ... is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where workers live and work, and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process. Workers are therefore an integral part in the body of the Declaration. In addition, the World Health Assembly has repeatedly requested Member States to give workers health a high priority in the overall programme of work and to incorporate it as an essential component of PHC. There are different levels of PHC workers: doctors in charge of occupational health, dedicated health care personnel with backgrounds in general education, health assistants, such as nurses and health technicians especially trained in occupational health, and qualified workers with vocational training backgrounds. There are many strategies in common between PHC and occupational health. In fact, an adequate in-plant occupational health service meets almost all the principles of PHC as follows. Health education and community participation These are fundamental aspects of PHC and equally basic in occupational
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