Objective To investigate the status of occupational hazards in Wuxi enterprises and provide basis for establishing preventive and control measures of occupational diseases.
Methods A unified questionnaire was applied to investigate the occupational hazards, occupational health surveillance, and occupational diseases occurred in 1 248 enterprises in Wuxi which was selected by cluster random sampling.
Results Various occupational hazards were identified, including dust, physical factors, chemical factors, and high toxic substances. The qualified rates of air quality in selected workplaces and the rates of occupational health surveillance were low. The qualified rates of dust, high toxic substances, and physical factors were 92.95%, 92.36%, and 79.94%, respectively. The qualified rates of silica dust, manganese, lead, high temperature, and noise were 71.70%, 76.47%, 89.65%, 58.52%, and 78.31%, respectively. In the enterprises investigated, 231 workers were diagnosed as occupational diseases, among whom 187 were diagnosed as pneumoconiosis and 24 as occupational eye disease.
Conclusion Dust, noise, benzene compounds, and lead are the main occupational hazardous factors in Wuxi. Enterprises should continue to strengthen occupational hazards monitoring and occupational health surveillance to protect the health of workers.