Study on disease status of gem worker's silicosis

  Objective   To study the hazards of gem dusts and disease status of gem worker's silicosis.

  Methods   1 563 workers in two gem factory in Guangdong province were examined and labor hygienes of workshop were also measured.

  Results   The average dusts concentration in workshop was 2.4 mg/m³, average free silica content was 92.79%.The incidence of gem worker's, silicosis was 4.29%.The age of being diagnosed as silicosis and the duration of dust exposure in the cases were(27.12±3.32)years and(4.74±1.13)years respectively.58.21% pulmonary ventilation capacity were damaged and 55.22% damaging types of the pulmonary funcition were mixed, and small respiratory trace functional were damaged.

  Conclusion   The poorer labor condition of gem factory, higher incidence, silicosis in gem processing workers were young and short period of dust exposure.The pulmonary functional were damaged obviously.