engleski

Occupational poisonings reported to the croatian poison control centre in the ten-year period (2009-2018)

Data from the records of telephone consultations with CPCC for cases of occupational poisonings in the period 2009-2018 were analysed with regard to poisoning frequencies, causes, symptoms and route of exposure. In the period 2009-2018 the CPCC was consulted for the total of 18 655 cases, 428 of these were workplace incidents leading to poisonings or cases of suspected harmful exposures at a workplace (43 cases yearly on average, 2-3% of the total number of cases per year). Men were most frequently involved (303 cases in total, 71%). The most common causes were gases and fumes (135 cases in total, yearly average 32%), followed by organic solvents (93 cases, 22%) and corrosive substances (79 cases, 18%). The main route of exposure was inhalation (290 cases, average yearly 68%). The most often repeated scenarios of exposure were inhalation of welding fumes, irritative gases or organic solvents during prolonged work in confined spaces without proper ventilation and personal protection equipment. Overall, at the time of the telephone consultation, 335 workers had only mild symptoms (such as gastrointestinal, skin or respiratory irritation, or headache ; yearly average 79 %), 42 were asymptomatic (10%) and 44 had severe symptoms (10%) including severe respiratory distress and loss of consciousness due to hypoxia and inhalation of welding fumes and organic solvents, and corrosive injuries of skin or gastrointestinal tract due to contact with corrosive products (often kept in non- original packaging). Frequency of cases with regard to the patient’s sex, cause of poisoning, exposure route and clinical effects fluctuated over the years without a consistent trend. Conclusion: Future preventive strategies should be focused at the improvement of safety at work measures for respiratory system, including adequate technical measures, personal protection and proper workers’ behavior. This is particularly important for welders (UV radiation from welding and welding fumes were recently categorized as Group 1 carcinogens by International Agency for Research on Cancer).

occupational ; poisoning ; Croatia

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