Labour protection activities in polygraphy

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Before now, lead intoxication was the most common occupational disease in the printing industry. At present, lead alloys are almost not used, so the most common are diseases of the skin, musculoskeletal system, myopia and hearing damage.

Diseases of the skin (dermatitis, eczema) make up about 24% of all occupational diseases.

They arise when exposed to the skin of harmful chemicals from printers, copiers, stinkers and bookbinders.

Diseases of the musculoskeletal system are observed in people who work in forced labour poses, with increased physical activity or in unfavourable working conditions. They can be typists, receivers, sorters, paper cutters, packers, seamstresses on the machines.

Eye diseases (myopia) develop with prolonged work requiring significant visual tension (especially in conditions of insufficient or irrational illumination of the workplace). This category includes the work of dialers, operators of typewriter and recorder devices and video-terminal devices, retouchers, proofreaders, printers, receivers-sorters.

Hearing damage occurs with prolonged production noise of high levels. Often, this disease occurs in printers of high-speed rotary machines or compressor plant drivers.

The systematization of materials about occupational injuries and occupational diseases in this type of production allows identifying the most dangerous and harmful factors, focusing appropriate attention on them and determining the appropriate measures for their elimination.

The basic measures for the prevention and elimination of the causes of occupational injuries and occupational diseases are divided into technical and organizational.

Technical measures include industrial sanitation and safety equipment. Measures for industrial sanitation are: organizational, technical and sanitary-hygienic. This means creating a comfortable microclimate; replacement of harmful substances and materials into harmless ones; sealing of harmful technological processes; reduction of noise and vibration; organization of rational lighting; provision of proper working and rest regimes, medical and sanitary and household services, etc.

Safety measures include a system of organizational and technical measures that prevent the impact of hazardous and harmful factors on workers.

They include the development and implementation of safe equipment, comprehensive mechanization and automation of technological processes, the use of fencing and automatic locking, as well as the development and implementation of fundamentally new harmless and safe technological processes.

Organizational measures include the proper organization of work, training, instruction, control and supervision of labour protection, observance of norms of labour legislation; introduction of safe methods and scientific organization of work; organization of planned preventive repairs, technical inspections of technological equipment, transport and load-lifting facilities, etc.

In this way, the organization of work on labour protection in the printing company includes the following:

− organization of labour protection service with the indication of responsible persons and functions they perform;

− ensuring the safe operation of all types of technological processes and production equipment;

− development and implementation of annual plans for organizational measures to prevent injuries and occupational diseases;

− creation of a system for monitoring compliance with the requirements of occupational safety;

− conducting an annual analysis of the injury level with the development of measures to prevent it.

Compliance with these measures promotes the creation of safe and harmless working conditions in printing companies and the preservation of their workers’ health.