Riassunto

Objective To assess the symptoms of heat illness experienced by surface mine workers.

Methods Ninety-one surface mine workers across three mine sites in northern Australia completed a heat stress questionnaire evaluating their symptoms for heat illness. A cohort of 56 underground mine workers also participated for comparative purposes. Participants were allocated into asymptomatic, minor or moderate heat illness categories depending on the number of symptoms they reported. Participants also reported the frequency of symptom experience, as well as their hydration status (average urine colour).

Results Heat illness symptoms were experienced by 87 and 79 % of surface and underground mine workers, respectively (p = 0.189), with 81–82 % of the symptoms reported being experienced by miners on more than one occasion. The majority (56 %) of surface workers were classified as experiencing minor heat illness symptoms, with a further 31 % classed as moderate; 13 % were asymptomatic. A similar distribution of heat illness classification was observed among underground miners (p = 0.420). Only 29 % of surface miners were considered well hydrated, with 61 % minimally dehydrated and 10 % significantly dehydrated, proportions that were similar among underground miners (p = 0.186). Heat illness category was significantly related to hydration status (p = 0.039) among surface mine workers, but only a trend was observed when data from surface and underground miners was pooled (p = 0.073). Compared to asymptomatic surface mine workers, the relative risk of experiencing minor and moderate symptoms of heat illness was 1.5 and 1.6, respectively, when minimally dehydrated.

Conclusions These findings show that surface mine workers routinely experience symptoms of heat illness and highlight that control measures are required to prevent symptoms progressing to medical cases of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Commento

Vengono definiti ambienti termici “severi caldi” tutti gli ambienti di lavoro, sia aperti che confinati, nei quali, a causa di fattori climatici o di peculiari esigenze produttive, l’alterazione dei parametri miroclimatici impedisce o limita fortemente il raggiungimento del comfort termico corporeo nei lavoratori esposti.

Dati i rischi per la salute (squilibri idrominerali, aggravio di lavoro per il cuore, calo delle prestazioni intellettive, di attenzione, di prontezza, spossatezza, irascibilità, vertigini, nausea, ecc..), ampiamente documentati, che conseguono ad esposizioni costanti in queste tipologie di ambienti, bisogna sottolineare che la presenza di questi ultimi all’interno del luogo di lavoro trova giustificazione solo se essi persistono a fronte di tutte le idonee misure di controllo ambientale. I lavoratori esposti andranno inoltre tutelati con specifiche misure organizzative, dispositivi di protezione individuale, specifica informazione e formazione ed adeguato controllo sanitario.

L'obiettivo del presente studio, realizzato dall’Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, in Australia, è stato quello di valutare nel dettaglio i principali sintomi dello stress termico da caldo in un gruppo di minatori operanti ai tropici al fine di una dettagliata classificazione, nella consapevolezza che l’addestramento all’individuazione precoce dei sintomi da stress termico, anche lievi, svolge in ambito preventivo un ruolo di fondamentale importanza.

Keywords

Dehydration, Heat exhaustion, Heat illness, Hydration status, Mine workers

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