Health hazards among workers in power stations. Comparative study between natural gas and mazout stations

This study was done on 65 workers working in power station I (Shoubra El-Kheima) where they are exposed to natural gas and mazout, 74 workers in power station II (El-Gharb) where there is mazout exposure only and 74 individuals acting as controls. All these individuals were admitted to a questionnaire, examined clinically and they were investigated to assess their respiratory, liver and kidney function tests. This is in addition to a complete blood picture. Air pollution inside these stations was assessed. The study aimed at determining the pollutants inside and outside the stations and to investigate the health hazards of the workers exposed to these pollutants. It aimed also to see if it is important and urgent to replace the mazout by natural gas as a fuel in these power stations. The results showed that by-products of mazout have bad effect on the environment. When mazout is used alone as a fuel, it has an adverse effect on the respiratory system and the liver. There is a need for a prospective study to assess the causal relationship between mazout by-products and health hazards before taking the decision of replacing mazout by natural gas.