Construction workers' skin disorders in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases 2005-2016.

BACKGROUND

Construction workers are a known risk group for occupational skin disease (OSD).

OBJECTIVES

To study diagnoses and causes of OSD in construction workers in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases (FROD) 2005-2016.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We searched the FROD for dermatological cases in (a) construction-related occupations defined by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) and (b) in the industrial branch of construction defined by the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).

RESULTS

The two searches yielded the same number of cases, 329, although they were not identical subgroups. The number of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) cases was 235 (71%) in construction-related occupations and 228 (69%) in the industrial branch of construction. In the latter analysis, synthetic resin systems caused 66% of ACD cases and 46% of all OSDs, epoxy compounds being the leading cause (122 cases; 54% of ACD cases; 37% of all OSDs). Metals were the second most common group of causes of ACD with 31 cases (chrome 22 cases; cobalt 8 cases). Isothiazolinones caused ACD in 21 cases, many of whom were painters.

CONCLUSIONS

ACD dominated the OSDs of construction workers and epoxy products were by far the leading cause comprising 37% of all OSDs. Chrome and isothiazolinones were also prominent causes of ACD.