Medicina Ocupacional y Asuntos de Salud

Abstracto

Cardiovascular Risk for Workers in Big, Infrastructure Projects

Martina Speziale and Norma Barbini

For many years the Florentine area has been involved in carrying out big, infrastructure projects. These projects are very complex and the workforce employed to construct them, coming from all parts of Italy and also from abroad, are represented by workers with a high level of specialization, exposed to several and harmful risk factors. The majority live far from their family for long periods of time, mainly in base camps far from residential areas, sometimes isolated, without the possibility of dedicating their free time to social, cultural, sport and/or recreational activities. The objective of our study is to evaluate in this category of workers which working risk factors and styles of life represent a major risk factor for arterial hypertension which, in turn, significantly increases cardiovascular risk. A significant majority of workers carry out mansions of carpenter/soldered and of machine/excavator driver, in charge of dirt handling. The sample also includes numerous miners and drivers. The workers' average age is 45 years old and a high working seniority. Arterial hypertension is present in 139 subjects, equaling to 54% of the sample. The distribution of frequency of arterial hypertension is greater in the class of drivers, followed by the class of site managers and construction machines/excavator drivers. It is believed that the risk factors to which the workers studied are exposed, constitute elements that facilitate the onset of a state of arterial hypertension; among these, the stress correlated to a task which requires, lengthened attention and concentration, resulted as being the most important factor.