Occupational Pathology of Workers Employed in Different Productions of Copper-Nickel Industry in Far North

The study dealt with the data on 1 097 cases of occupational diseases that were first identified in 702 employees of the copper-nickel industry in Murmansk region in the period from 1970 to 2010. It has been established that in the structure of occupational diseases of workers engaged in all kinds of nickel and copper production, chronic bronchopulmonary diseases dominated. It was important that the nosological spectrum of respiratory pathology was largely determined by the nature of production. In contrast, the pathology of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems including the vibration disease occupied the leading segment in the structure of the occupational pathology of the copper-nickel ores miners. It has been concluded that in order to reduce the risk of occupational disabilities, it was necessary to decrease the degree of exposure to nickel aerosols (in nickel and copper metallurgical workers) and harmful physical factors (in copper and nickel ore miners

Copper · Environmental health · Metallurgy · Nickel · Occupational exposure · Healthcare Systems and Public Health · Human Health and Disease · Materials Science · Medicine