Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to I M Arnold.
Occupational medicine in Canada presents many paradoxes and anomalies. This paper outlines the history, status, and current direction of occupational medicine in the country, with an emphasis on the unusual features of the Canadian experience.
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A five-year retrospective study of workers exposed to hydrogen sulfide in Alberta, Canada, was conducted, using the records of 250 workers who submitted claims to the provincial compensation board from 1979 through 1983. Fifty-four percent of the exposed workers became unconscious after exposure. Signs and symptoms with a neurological component accounted for the largest group of clinical findings. Respiratory and ophthalmologic effects were the other major groups of signs and symptoms. The overall fatality rate was 2.8%, significantly lower than that reported (6.0%) in a similar study a decade earlier. This is attributed to improved first-aid training and increased awareness of the dangers of hydrogen sulfide. Traumatic injury as a result of a fall after exposure was noted in 31 cases.
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We describe the experience of the occupational health centre at the Sarnia Division of Dow Chemical Canada prior to, during and after a work stoppage of seven months duration. A descriptive analysis was performed of the occupational health case load during the work stoppage compared to the same period one year earlier. Total visits as well as those for dermatologic, upper respiratory, musculoskeletal and those associated with a non-occupationally related situation (e.g., sunburn) exceeded normal frequencies during the first ten weeks of the work stoppage. In particular, there was a peak number of visits during the first two weeks when a 'lock-in' prevented employees from visiting their own physicians except for emergency situations. In the Discussion section, recommendations are outlined to lessen the chance of adverse health effects in workers responsible for operating a chemical plant during a work stoppage.
We examined the mortality experience of 3,479 male Dow Canada employees who were employed at Sarnia Division for at least 12 continuous months during the years 1945 through 1983, utilizing the Canadian Mortality Data Base maintained by Statistics Canada, covering 1950-1984. We analyzed cause-specific mortality using male, age and calendar-year-adjusted death rates for Canada and Ontario. Total mortality was significantly below expectation whether the entire follow-up period (240 observed vs. 366.9 expected) or a 15-year latency period (171 observed vs. 290.4 expected) was considered. Statistically significant fewer observed deaths were found for all respiratory cancer, cancer of the bronchus and lung, circulatory disease, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, digestive disease, cirrhosis and other liver disease and deaths due to accidents, poisonings and violence. The observation of three deaths due to mesothelioma, a rare cancer often associated with asbestos exposure, was a significant finding as was a statistically significant elevation of observed deaths in the category "other forms of heart disease".
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