Analysis of occupational and mental health status in high-speed railway locomotive drivers / 中国职业医学

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To understand the exposure of occupational hazards, occupational and mental health status of high-speed railway locomotive drivers. METHODS: A total of 150 male high-speed railway locomotive drivers from Nanchang Railway administration were selected as experimental group, and 80 male ordinary train drivers were selected as control group by using a judgment sampling method. The occupational disease hazard testing and occupational health examinations were conducted in drivers of these two groups. The mental health status survey was conducted using the Symptom Checklist 90(SCL-90). RESULTS: The noise, power frequency electric field, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, xylene and carbon dioxide in all the work place of these two groups were in line with the national occupational health standards. The exposure noise intensity of the experimental group was lower than that of the control group [(70.5±3.7) vs(77.4±4.1) dB(A), P<0.05]. The detection rates of hypertension and chronic gastritis were higher in the experimental group(18.7% vs 34.7%, 26.2% vs 42.0%, P<0.05). The detection rate of high frequency hearing loss decreased in the experimental group compared with the control group(22.5% vs 10.7%, P<0.05). The total score of SCL-90 in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group [(169.5±6.1) vs(148.0±6.0) score, P<0.01]. The positive rate of psychological symptoms was higher in the experimental group than that of the control group(41.3% vs 23.8%, P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The concentration/intensity of occupational disease hazards in the workplace of high-speed railway locomotives drivers is within normal limit. The occupational health status of high-speed railway locomotive drivers is generally good, but attention should be paid to their occupational mental health hazards.