ILO reviews top occupational diseases

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The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that at least 1.6 million people die each year around the world due to work-related diseases. That is equivalent to losing the population of Montreal annually to occupational disease. Occupational disease is illness that results from the conditions, functions or environment of employment rather than from the ordinary risks to which the general public is exposed. Some time usually elapses between exposure to the cause and development of symptoms, and in some instances, symptoms may not become evident for 20 years or more.

Since 1964, the ILO has maintained a list of internationally acknowledged occupational diseases to serve as guidance for countries establishing their own national lists and to encourage them to include the ILO list of diseases; to harmonize policy development on occupational diseases and promote their prevention; and for additions to the list to serve as catalysts to extend preventive measures to control the use of harmful substances, and assist a better health surveillance of workers.

The ILO List of Occupational Diseases is being reviewed and may be updated. Dr. Shengli Niu, Senior Specialist on Occupational Health from the International Labour Office reviewed the proposed amendments to the list and their impact at CCOHS' Forum on Occupational Disease held in March in Toronto.

The ILO has two official lists: the first (updated in 1980) is annexed to Convention 121 which is legally binding for countries who ratified the convention. The second list was developed in the early 1990's and adopted in 2002 - annexed to Recommendation No. 194. The December 2005 ILO tripartite meeting of experts will propose an updated version to replace the 2002 list after the approval of the ILO Governing Body, which is expected to take place in March 2006.

The list needs to be regularly updated to reflect new risk factors, diagnostic technology, new diseases, increased recognition at the national level, and international development. The key criteria for updating the ILO list may include the strength of the exposure-effect relationship between a specific working environment and/or activity and a specific disease effect, the magnitude of the risk factors and the fact that a disease is recognized in many national lists. Agents/Diseases to be considered for inclusion in the new list:

* Chemicals (pesticides?)

* Physical (electromagnetic fields?)

* Biological (Tetanu, Brucellosis HBV/HCV, TB, HIV?)

* Diseases by target organs (Mental and behavioural illnesses such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to stressful event or situation and Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Syndrome caused by mobbing, Musculoskeletal disorders?)

* Occupational Cancer (Arsenic, Beryllium, Cadmium , Erionite , Ethylene oxides , Silic, Hepatitis B Virus and C Virus?)

* Other Diseases (Miners' nystagmus)