A multi-pronged HRC-funded research programme is painting a clearer picture of New Zealand's occupational disease burden and highlighting changes needed to address that.
Working under the umbrella of Massey University's Wellington-based Centre for Public Health Research, the Building Research in Occupational Health in New Zealand (BROHNZ) programme is now well into a second, three-year suite of projects covering a range of occupational diseases including dermatitis, motor neuron disease, asthma in sawmill workers and neurobehavioural symptoms in workers exposed to solvent and fumigants. It also studied the burden of occupational ill health in Māori.
Programme Director Jeroen Douwes, Professor of Public Health, says an estimated 700-1000 workers in New Zealand die each year due to occupational disease caused by a range of exposures, with 17-20,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
"We have an unacceptably high occupational disease burden with an annual cost conservatively estimated to be $4.9 billion per annum. That's about 3.4 per cent of GDP, making it a substantial public health issue."
The BROHNZ programme covers several areas - including cancer and respiratory disease, where research had already been done - as well as other areas not touched on much before in New Zealand.
One such area is neuroepidemiology, in this case looking at the effects of organic solvent exposure on collision repair workers.
The project compared 370 workers with 215 workers not typically exposed to solvents. Researchers identified an almost four-fold increased risk for neurological symptoms, a three-fold increase for psychosomatic symptoms, a two-fold increase for mood changes, a three-fold increase for memory deficits, and a two and a half-fold deficit for memory and concentration symptoms combined.
"What was interesting is that when we measured people's exposure to a whole range of solvents, most of those levels were well below current workplace exposure standards."
Professor Douwes says although properly ventilated spraying booths seem to be effective, it is exposure outside the booth that is more problematic. People are still cleaning their spray gun in areas without exhaust ventilation and clean surfaces with solvents on a rag, resulting in dermal exposure, so these are areas where interventions can be targeted.
Over the next month we will report on the results of other parts of the BROHNZ programme, beginning with its study into motor neurone disease.