Occupational illness in figures 2008 09.02.2009

The number of incidences of occupational illness in the building industry rose substantially in 2007. This is apparent from Beroepsziekten in cijfers 2008 (Occupational illness in figures 2008), a report for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment by the Nederlands Centrum voor beroepsziekten (NCvB or Netherlands Centre for Occupational Illness). Since 1999 all occupational health and safety services and company medical officers have been obliged to report occupational illness to this centre. Alongside the data from this national registration, the NCvB also uses data collected from the so-called sounding stations: projects in which a selected group of informants report (certain) occupational illnesses during a specific period. In 2007 there were two sounding stations: one for compiling an inventory of occupational illnesses of the skin, and one for an inventory of occupational illnesses of the lungs.  
In 2007 the NCvB compiled an inventory of 5,974 reports. This number was roughly equivalent to previous years. Over the past eight years the number of reports has remained largely unchanged, varying from 5,335 to 6,063. What was noticeable was that the number of reports from the building industry, submitted to a large extent collectively by the Stichting Arbouw, rose from 11 per cent in 2000 to 58 per cent in 2007, while reports from the other economic sectors declined. 
Of the reports from all sectors between 2009 and 2007, 90 per cent can be subdivided into three categories. 42 per cent concerned disorders of the posture and locomotor apparatus. 24 per cent involved psychological disorders, while another 24 per cent concerned hearing problems.     
At the sounding station for work-related skin disorders there were 419 reports in 2007. This is far higher than the number of reports submitted via the national registration (188). In both instances the most common diagnosis was contact eczema. The sounding station for work-related lung disorders received 104 reports. The national registration service received 111. Here an increase could be noted of reports of occupational asthma and allergic rhinitis (head colds).   
The report also showed a reduction in the number of new instances of Chronic Toxic Encephalopathy (CTE), or chronic painters’ syndrome, a serious type of damage to the nervous system. This diagnosis was made for only 19 patients in 2007.

The entire report can be downloaded from www.szw.nl or www.beroepsziekten.nl