Harmful working conditions include working conditions, the impact of which can cause an occupational disease in an employee, a decrease in working capacity, and lead to a violation of the health of his offspring. There are several classes of hazard and several types of hazardous factors.
Types of harmful factors
Physical factors include high temperature (for example, the profession of a thermist who hardens metal parts and products), humidity (washing and laundries), air speed (work in open areas with strong ventilation), thermal (infrared) radiation (bakery).
The two categories include electromagnetic fields (X-rays, mobile stations) and ionizing radiation (objects of railway transport). Also in this list are industrial noise, ultrasound (used for flaw detection of castings, welds, plastics, when grinding solids in liquids, for cleaning and degreasing parts, homogenizing milk, cutting, welding metal, crushing, drilling fragile materials, accelerating fermentation during wine making), infrasound (fans, compressors, diesel engines, electric locomotives, turbines, jet engines), vibration (working with a pneumatic hammer - on the roads or in mining), aerosols (painting work - exposure to aerosols, acetones, paints).
In the same category - light conditions: no or insufficient lighting in the workplace, glare, pulsation of lighting or excessive brightness (for example, welding work).
Chemical factors include substances and mixtures, including some biological substances: antibiotics, vitamins, hormones, enzymes, protein preparations. An example of chemical factors can be found in the electroplating industry: here workers are engaged in the coating of metal products - galvanizing, oxidizing, anodizing, chrome plating.
Biological factors - work with microorganisms: producers, living cells and spores in bacterial preparations, as well as interaction with pathogenic microorganisms that can cause infectious diseases (work in laboratories).
Labor process factors - the severity and intensity of labor (for example, carrying heavy loads).
There are professions in which workers are exposed to several harmful factors at once. These include, for example, blacksmithing: there is both a temperature factor (heat) and noise (the noise of hammers and dies).
Benefits for hazardous workers
According to the labor legislation of the Russian Federation, an employee engaged in harmful, dangerous or difficult work has the right to additional payments, a preferential pension. In such a production, a shorter working day is established, and the total working time per week should not exceed 36 hours.
For the protection of workers in hazardous industries, mandatory preliminary and periodic medical examinations and examinations are provided, as well as the issuance of special clothing and personal protective equipment. These include washing and neutralizing agents, milk, therapeutic and prophylactic nutrition. True, they can be replaced with compensation payments.
