Jeebhay M F, Lopata A L, Robins T G
Department of Public Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Occup Med (Lond). 2000 Aug;50(6):406-13. doi: 10.1093/occmed/50.6.406.
The work practices, occupational health services and allergic health problems among workplaces which process seafood in Western Cape province of South Africa were examined. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 68 workplaces that were sent a self-administered postal survey questionnaire. Workplaces reporting a high prevalence of work-related symptoms associated with seafood exposure were also inspected. Forty-one (60%) workplaces responded to the questionnaire. The workforce consisted mainly of women (62%) and 31% were seasonal workers. Common seafoods processed were bony fish (76%) and rock lobster (34%). Major work processes involved freezing (71%), cutting (63%) and degutting (58%). Only 45% of workplaces provided an on-site occupational health service and 58% of workplaces conducted medical surveillance. Positive trends were observed between workplace size and activities such as occupational health service provision (P = 0.002), medical surveillance programmes (P = 0.055) and reporting work-related symptoms (P = 0.016). None of the workplaces had industrial hygiene surveillance programmes to evaluate the effects of exposure to seafood. Common work-related symptoms included skin rashes (78%), asthma (7%) and other non-specific allergies (15%). The annual prevalence of work-related skin symptoms reported per workplace was substantially higher for skin (0-100%) than for asthmatic (0-5%) symptoms. The relatively low prevalence of employer-reported asthmatic symptoms, when compared to epidemiological studies using direct investigator assessment of individual health status, suggests likely under-detection. This can be attributed to under-provision and under-development of occupational health surveillance programmes in workplaces with less than 200 workers. This is compounded further by the lack of specific statutory guidelines for the evaluation and control of bio-aerosols in South African workplaces.
对南非西开普省海鲜加工工作场所的工作实践、职业健康服务及过敏性健康问题进行了调查。对68个工作场所进行了一项横断面研究，向其发送了自行填写的邮政调查问卷。还对报告与海鲜接触相关的工作相关症状高发的工作场所进行了检查。41个（60%）工作场所回复了问卷。劳动力主要由女性组成（62%），31%为季节性工人。加工的常见海鲜有硬骨鱼（76%）和岩龙虾（34%）。主要工作流程包括冷冻（71%）、切割（63%）和去内脏（58%）。只有45%的工作场所提供现场职业健康服务，58%的工作场所开展了医疗监测。在工作场所规模与职业健康服务提供（P = 0.002）、医疗监测计划（P = 0.055）及报告工作相关症状（P = 0.016）等活动之间观察到了积极趋势。没有一个工作场所有工业卫生监测计划来评估海鲜暴露的影响。常见的工作相关症状包括皮疹（78%）、哮喘（7%）和其他非特异性过敏（15%）。每个工作场所报告的与工作相关的皮肤症状的年患病率在皮肤方面（0 - 100%）远高于哮喘症状（0 - 5%）。与使用直接调查员评估个体健康状况的流行病学研究相比，雇主报告的哮喘症状患病率相对较低，这表明可能存在漏报情况。这可归因于员工人数少于200人的工作场所职业健康监测计划的供应不足和发展不完善。南非工作场所缺乏评估和控制生物气溶胶的具体法定指南，这使情况更加复杂。
