The term “harmful work” is used to describe those professions and specialties that are associated with an increased level of risk. Employees holding such positions are hypothetically exposed to certain risks due to the conditions and specifics of their work.
Why is certification of jobs hazardous?
In all large companies and enterprises, occupations with harmful working conditions are subject to certification and are entered in a special list. They are clearly marked and characterized, and the company’s budget includes all bonuses and compensation due to employees.
However, employees of small firms may not even know how harmful their work is. Often, the leaders of small enterprises ignore the need for certification, so employees have to look for information on their own. The list of harmful professions is determined and approved at the legislative level and is publicly available. If the position occupied by the employee is really harmful to his health, the manager is obliged to compensate for the losses, provide the subordinate with benefits and let him retire much earlier than other employees.
List of harmful production factors
A feature of domestic legislation regarding labor safety is the presence of two lists of harmful professions. The first was drawn up in the Soviet Union and regulates the labor activity of those people who worked before 1992. The list of harmful professions No. 2 includes a very large number of names of specific specialties (largely overlapping with list No. 1). Among them:
- Metal fill
- Alloy smelter.
- Gas welder.
- Locksmith and many others.
In addition to the professions indicated in the list, people involved in rescue operations, fire protection, aviation and port facilities can benefit from preferential services.
Some of these professions are recognized as harmful because there is a lot of dust in the workplace, loud noise, there is a chance of contact with hazardous substances, or the work itself is extremely risky (coal, oil, gas, machinery). Regular exposure to harmful working factors on a person can lead to the appearance of so-called occupational diseases.
Conditionally harmful factors by profession can be grouped into the following categories: physical, biological, chemical, psychophysiological.
Physical factors affecting the employee
Under production conditions, the influence of these factors is the most obvious and obvious, since the degree of impact can be measured and expressed with objective indicators:
- High dust content in the atmosphere. Prolonged inhalation of air saturated with suspension adversely affects lung function. The degree of destructive effect increases when hazardous substances are included in the dust.
- The quality of the lighting. Some lamps that provide lighting in workshops or other workrooms adversely affect the psyche, mood and physical condition of the team.
- Loud noises. By the degree of impact on the human psyche, sounds have the same strength as bright lighting. In addition, the effect is not only the level, but also the quality of the noise.
- Radiation. The detrimental effect affects both the internal organs and the general condition of the skin.In order to measure the level of radiation and establish the fact of the harmfulness of the profession, during the certification, specialists use the appropriate instruments.
Harmful factors biological origin
The list of harmful professions includes several specialties related to scientific, medical and research activities. The danger to workers in this area is directly the object of their work: viruses and microorganisms.
In laboratories, their concentration is much higher than in the environment, so there is a risk of disruption of the body's systems. At the same time, danger awaits even the most cautious and attentive workers. In some cases, it is impossible to protect employees from such exposure, even when using protective suits and masks.
Chemical production and risk factors in this area
In connection with the rapid development of the chemical industry and the widespread use of its products, almost everything underwent chemicalization National economy. List harmful substances used at various manufacturing enterprises is constantly updated with new, more advanced developments (monomers and polymers, fertilizers and pesticides).
Chemical production and its processes pose a danger to the human body, since substances can get on the skin, be present in air and water, and also exist in the form of fumes.
Depending on the exposure, harmful chemicals can be:
- Annoying.
- Toxic (poisons).
- Sensitizing (allergens).
- Carcinogenic.
Some compounds can be attributed to several groups at once, since the range of their properties is very wide.
Harmful profession: psychophysiological factors
Among such obvious sources of negative effects on humans, such as dust, noise, poison, etc., destructive emotions occupy not the least place. They occur when a person in the workplace has to experience constant stress and emotional stress. Also, the emotional factors characterizing harmful work include labor activities associated with long-term communication with many people. In this regard, the teacher’s specialty is also included in the list of harmful professions. The significant influence of emotional factors on the representatives of this profession is balanced by a long vacation.
Who and how provides safety at production plants?
The general level of safety and compliance with labor protection rules is determined by the company management policy. It depends on the employer whether time and finances will be spent on minimizing the dangerous effects of production factors.
There are several methods that are used to improve worker safety:
- Introduction of additional briefings and trainings.
- Establishment of personal responsibility of employees for compliance with labor standards (painting and marking “acquainted”).
- Modernization and additional material support of workplaces (installation of noise insulation materials, ventilation equipment, issuance of respirators, masks and glasses).
Employees engaged in hazardous work are required to know and apply safety measures, be careful and prudent, and also use all protective equipment that they have been given as intended.
The specifics of the work of miners
In the top of the most harmful modern professions is work in the mines. Going underground for coal, miners are exposed to several unfavorable factors. The result is a whole range of occupational diseases: damage to the respiratory system, heart, and vascular system.
A large concentration of carbon dioxide in the air of mines, dust and coal, as well as a lack of oxygen leads to malfunctions of the lungs and bronchi.
Work in mines is invariably associated with a high level of noise, which cannot but affect hearing acuity, and the strength of the cardiovascular and nervous systems. One cannot but mention the vibrational disease that haunts many miners. Most of them experience its manifestations to one degree or another: periodic pains and numbness of fingers, seizures, changes in joints and limbs.
Dangers threatening metallurgists
Almost all metallurgical enterprises are sources of a large number of harmful factors affecting workers. They are exposed to vibration and noise, forced to inhale a mixture of industrial vapors, gases and dust, and deal with hazardous chemicals.
Statistics show that the first positions in the list of occupational diseases of metallurgists are problems with the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems, as well as with the respiratory system. The same factors are relevant for workers serving the gas processing enterprise.
Nuclear energy and its specifics
Employees of energy companies who encounter radiation in the course of their work require systematic and ongoing protection. Their activities and health status are checked before each shift and, at the slightest suspicion of malaise, suspended from work for the period of recovery (without any sanctions).
The nuclear power professions are extremely dangerous due to the risk of radiation contamination. The complexity of its diagnosis in the early stages is caused by the insidiousness of radiation because a person is completely incapable of sensing it. However, the list of consequences that appear even after a few years is striking:
- Leukemia
- Different types of cancer.
- Damage to the genetic apparatus.
To control the influence of harmful factors on the employees of nuclear energy enterprises, protective equipment, clothing and appliances, frequent medical examinations of personnel and strict protocols governing the labor activity of workers are used.
Compensation and benefits to employees involved in harmful work
A workplace is considered harmful in the analysis of certification data. The state obliges all enterprise managers to carry out this procedure. After studying the information collected directly at the workplace, he is assigned the status of “safe” or “harmful”.
From this moment, all employees holding harmful positions receive new contracts, in accordance with which they are entitled to legislatively approved benefits:
- Receiving milk or other equivalent product.
- Use of additional leave, which is paid in the prescribed manner.
- Shorter working week (36 hours).
- Higher salary than those accrued to employees without harmful conditions.
- Labor pension (for men after ten years of service, for women after seven and a half).
Responsibility for compliance with the specified conditions of labor and collective agreements lies primarily with the head of the enterprise. However, in order to avoid fraud or incomplete fulfillment of clauses of an agreement, an employee must have an idea of his rights and status in the organization. Even an elementary study of documents will help to understand whether his workplace is harmful and whether he is entitled to any benefits.
A constructive dialogue and tactfully expressed proposals can establish the situation. In the most extreme case, you can defend your interests with the help of a trade union or lawyer.
