[Investigation of occupational health status of female workers in pharmaceutical industry of Shandong and Gansu provinces].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate occupational health status of female workers in pharmaceutical industries and to propose the protective measures for the occupational health. METHOD: A total of 2816 female workers from 19 pharmaceutical industries in Shandong and Gansu provinces were investigated by a questionnaire. RESULTS: 73.1% of female workers exposed to occupational hazards, mainly to toxic chemicals. 63.2% of them suffered from dysmenorrhea; 38.5% of them have reproductive system diseases, i.e. mammary gland hyperplasia (44.1%), cervical erosion (26.5%), uterine annex inflammation (24.2%); 17.1% of them suffered from accidental work injuries; 34.7% of them complained about low back pain, and 29.7% of them perceived hearing loss. 94.9% of female workers hoped to get the occupational health and labor protection knowledge and skills. CONCLUSION: Strengthening the supervision of labor protection for female workers, including technical measures occupational hazards control and health-related knowledge, and improving the occupational health status of female workers should be conducted.

A survey of occupational health hazards among 7,610 female workers in China's electronics industry.

To investigate the occupational hazards among Chinese female workers in the electronics industry, the authors systematically sampled a total of 8,300 female workers at random across 4 provinces in a variety of electronics factories. A detailed questionnaire was used to collect information on occupational hazards and the occurrence of occupation-related diseases. The results show that 4,283 female workers (51.9%) were exposed to 1 or more occupational hazards. The most common chemical hazard was organic solvent, and the second most common was heavy metals. The ergonomic hazards included repetitive movements, poor standing posture, and the lifting of heavy goods. More than 60% of the female workers self-reported occupation-related diseases. These results showed that occupational health hazards were common in the electronics industry in China and that they caused serious occupation-related health problems for the female workers therein.