[Vibration syndrome and occupational exposure in Poland]

The objective of the study was to analyse the data on the exposure to vibration, and the incidence of vibration syndrome in individual branches of the national economy and voivodships. The data were obtained from the records of The Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Lódź, containing reports submitted to the Institute every three years, and the literature on fragmentary analyses of this kind of exposure. Although, the number of persons exposed to vibration, and the incidence of occupational diseases induced by vibration have decreased, the material collected provide evidence that vibration syndrome still plays an essential role in occupational pathology. The decrease in the vibration syndrome incidence observed during the years 1982-97 was lower than the decline in the number of persons exposed to vibration, but the ratio of the number of cases to the number of those exposed remained unchanged (2.1). In 1994-97, forestry workers constituted the largest working population exposed to vibration, and the number of persons with diagnosed vibration syndrome significantly increased, however, exposure to vibration in this branch of economy considerably declined. In the mining industry, a significant decrease in the number of persons exposed to vibration, as well as in the incidence of vibration syndrome was observed at that time. The worse situation in forestry might result from the past negligence of hygiene norms or less effective diagnosis in early stages of the disease development. The lack of measuring and monitoring of vibration intensity in the working environment is an alarming observation in view of the fact that both the number of persons exposed, and the incidence of occupational diseases caused by this kind of exposure are still high.