#0020 Occupational co‐exposure to biomechanical factors and neurotoxic chemicals in a representative sample of French employees
Many French Workers Could be Exposed to Risk of Physical Injury and Neurotoxic Chemicals
Globally, musculoskeletal disorders, like carpal tunnel syndrome, are a major reason for workers’ compensation claims. In France, authorities recorded 42,349 cases of occupation-related disorders in 2017. Yet, despite the scale of the problem, exploration of co-exposure to various risk factors has been lacking.
Thus, we at Inserm—the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research—set out to unearth how common it is for French workers to encounter both biomechanical risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders and neurotoxic chemicals while on the job.
We used data from the French Ministry of Labor’s SUMER 2010 survey, in which a network of occupational physicians had interviewed 47,983 people working in diverse sectors of the French economy to determine what risk factors they encountered in their jobs. Some of the neurotoxic chemicals relevant to musculoskeletal disorders include lead, arsenic, pesticides, and certain industrial chemicals. Biomechanical factors include forceful muscle exertion, as could occur from lifting heavy boxes, or the transmission of vibrations along the hands and arms, as could occur while operating a jackhammer.
The data from the interviews indicated that simultaneous exposure to both types of risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders was fairly common. Approximately 5% of male workers and 1% of female workers reported such combined exposures. Based on the size of the French workforce, this comes to 517,080 men and 72,619 women. The prevalence of such combined exposures was nearly an alarming 10% for men in blue-collar jobs, and the prevalence was particularly high (~13%) for men working in the construction sector.
These findings are cause for concern, and we recommend further investigation on work-related exposures to risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders, especially in sectors where many workers encounter both chemical and physical risk factors. Such investigations may help regulators and employers make improvements to workplace safety protocols to protect workers from developing musculoskeletal disorders.
Link to the original journal article:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/1348-9585.12090
Title of the paper:
Occupational co‐exposure to biomechanical factors and neurotoxic chemicals in a representative sample of French employees
Authors:
Mélanie Bertin, Thi‐Hai‐Yen Nguyen, Nathalie Bonvallot, Julie Bodin, and Yves Roquelaure
