Background As the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, while Xinjiang has continuously exploited superior resources and raised industrialization, it has also faced severe challenges to the management of occupational hazards brought by increasingly prominent occupational hazards.
Objective The purpose of this study is to understand the basic characteristics of occupational hazard distribution and current situation of occupational hazard management in enterprises of Xinjiang, assess the risks of occupational diseases, and provide a scientific basis for formulating occupational disease prevention and control measures and a solid guarantee for achieving the goals of regional occupational disease prevention and control plans.
Methods A questionnaire survey was carried out to collect information of 605 enterprises with occupational hazards in Xinjiang. Twelve individual indicators and one comprehensive indicator were used to evaluate the implementation of occupational hazard management measures. The distribution characteristics of occupational hazards and the implementation of occupational hazard management measures were analyzed against enterprise scales, economic types, industries, and occupational hazardous risk categories.
Results Among the 605 surveyed enterprises in Xinjiang, most enterprises were small enterprises (54.9%), limited liability companies (46.8%), and those having serious occupational hazards (61.7%). There were 76 499 workers exposed to occupational hazards (42.7%). The exposed workers mainly concentrated in large enterprises (52.0%), state-owned enterprises (48.8%), and enterprises with serious occupational hazards (84.1%). Regarding industry, building materials industry was leading in the numbers of enterprises (19.2%), and chemical industry had the largest number of workers exposed to occupational hazards (23.8%). There were significant differences in the exposure rate among workers from enterprises of different scales, economic types, and occupational hazardous risk categories (P < 0.001), especially high in micro-scale enterprises (66.6%) and enterprises with moderate risks of occupational hazards (45.4%) and low in stateowned enterprises (33.9%). There was also a significant difference in the exposure rate among workers from different industries (P < 0.001), with higher rates in motor vehicle fuel retail (95.3%), chemical industry (57.0%), and textile industry (56.0%). The compliance rates of the 12 individual indicators ranged from 27.1% to 96.5%, and the average compliance rate of the comprehensive indicator was 62.2%. There was a significant difference in the compliance rate of the comprehensive indicator among enterprises of different scales, economic types, and occupational hazardous risk categories (P < 0.001), and the rates of small enterprises, limited liability companies, private enterprises, and enterprises with moderate risks of occupational hazards were lower than the average rate. There was a significant difference in the compliance rate of the comprehensive indicator among different industries (P < 0.001), and the rates of non-metallic mineral mining, light industry, and machinery industry were lower than the average rate.
Conclusion Various enterprises in Xinjiang show different levels of occupational hazards management, and the situation is still grim. Related regulatory authorities should take small and micro enterprises, limited liability companies, private enterprises, and enterprises with moderate occupational hazardous risks as the targets of occupational disease prevention and control program, and strengthen supervision over key industries such as non-metallic mineral mining, light industry, and machinery industry. Through implementing strategies of priority supervision and classification supervision, and urging employers to implement the main responsibility of occupational disease prevention and control, we aim to protect workers' health and achieve the goals of related occupational disease prevention and control plans.
DownLoad: