Table 6 - uploaded by Brad Prezant
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Source publication
This study will provide an overview of the occupational causes of cancer in New Zealand. In addition, it will provide easily accessible, quantitative, and New Zealand-specific data on the extent and industrial distribution of occupational exposure to carcinogens. This will not only provide estimates of the number of workers exposed to carcinogens,...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... The prevalence in the New Zealand working population (from NZ-CAREX). Table 6 categorizes 9 occupational carcinogens as having high prevalence in the working population (due to the large size of the industries and high exposure prevalence within the industry) and having sufficient evidence of being carcinogenic to humans (IARC group 1 carcinogens). These occupational carcinogens with the highest priority for intervention include (in alphabetical order): Asbestos; Benzene; Chromium VI compounds; Formaldehyde; Involuntary smoking; Painter (occupational exposures as); Silica; Solar radiation; Wood dust. ...
Citations
... In summary, in the present study, we estimated the exposure prevalence and number of exposed workers, based on 20 carcinogens and 228 minor industrial groups by referring to three nationwide occupational exposure databases and eliciting the judgement of 37 industrial hygiene experts. The results of this study will aid in prioritizing preventive efforts (Mannetje et al., 2013) and preventing occupational cancers in Korean workers, as well as workers in other countries. ...
Objective:
To prevent occupational cancers, carcinogen exposure surveillance systems have been developed in many countries. This study aimed to develop a carcinogen exposure database specific to South Korea.
Methods:
Twenty known human carcinogens were selected for this study. The International Standard Classification of Industry was used for a classification scheme of industries. Three nationwide occupational exposure databases, the Work Environment Measurement Database, the Special Health Examination Database, and the Work Environment Condition Survey, were used to calculate reference exposure prevalence estimates by carcinogen and industry. Then, 37 professional industrial hygienists with at least 19 years of field experience provided their own exposure prevalence estimates, after reviewing the abovementioned reference estimates derived from three data sources. The median value of the experts' estimates was used as the final exposure prevalence. Finally, the number of exposed workers was computed by multiplying the final exposure prevalence by the number of workers extracted from the 2010 national census data by carcinogen and industry.
Results:
The exposure prevalence and the number of exposed workers were calculated according to 20 carcinogen and 228 minor industrial groups, assuming year 2010 circumstances. The largest population was exposed to welding fumes (326 822 workers), followed by ultraviolet radiation (238 937 workers), ionizing radiation (168 712 workers), and mineral oil mist (146 798 workers).
Conclusions:
Our results provide critical data on carcinogen exposure for the prevention of occupational cancers.
Background
The aim of this study was to estimate the number of workers exposed to diesel engine exhaust (DEE) by industry and year in the Republic of Korea.
Method
The estimates of workers potentially exposed to DEE in the Republic of Korea were calculated by industry on the basis of the carcinogen exposure (CAREX) surveillance system. The data on the labor force employed in DEE exposure industries were obtained from the Census on Establishments conducted by the Korea National Statistical Office from 1993 to 2013. The mean values of prevalence rates adopted by EU15 countries were used as the primary exposure prevalence rates. We also investigated the exposure prevalence rates and exposure characteristics of DEE in 359 workplaces representing 11 industries.
Results
The total number of workers exposed to DEE were estimated as 270,014 in 1993 and 417,034 in 2013 (2.2% of the total labor force). As of 2013, the industry categorized as “Land transport” showed the highest number of workers exposed to DEE with 174,359, followed by “Personal and household services” with 70,298, “Construction” with 45,555, “Wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels” with 44,005, and “Sanitation and similar services” with 12,584. These five industries, with more than 10,000 workers exposed to DEE, accounted for 83% of the total DEE-exposed workers. Comparing primary prevalence rates used for preliminary estimation among 49 industries, “Metal ore mining” had the highest rate at 52.6%, followed by “Other mining” with 50.0%, and “Land transport” with 23.6%.
Conclusion
The DEE prevalence rates we surveyed (1.3–19.8%) were higher than the primary prevalence rates. The most common emission sources of DEE were diesel engine vehicles such as forklifts, trucks, and vans. Our estimated numbers of workers exposed to DEE can be used to identify industries with workers requiring protection from potential exposure to DEE in the Republic of Korea.
