Abstract
Introduction: The automotive industry represents the most important industrial sector in terms of gross value added and the number of employees in Czechia. The objective of this study was to analyse the occurrence of occupational diseases (OD) in the automotive industry in Czechia during the 2001-2014 period.
Methods: Data on OD cases were retrieved from the National Registry of OD. Further, we conducted a survey in automotive companies with focus on occupational health services and positions of the companies in global production networks (GPNs).
An analysis of OD distribution in the automotive industry was performed (age, gender, company size and its role in GPNs, regional distribution of studied companies, and regional unemployment rate), and was accompanied by assessment of the quality and range of occupational health services. Results: Employees older than 40 years have nearly 2.5 times higher probability of OD occurrence compared with employees younger than 40 years (OR 2.41; 95% CI: 2.05-2.85).
OD occurrence probability was 3 times higher for women than for men (OR 3.01; 95 % CI: 2.55-3.55). OD incidence rates increased with the size of the company (4.5 OD/10 000 employees).
A particularly steep rise in OD incidents in the automotive industry was observed in the Plzeň Region between 2001 and 2011. An association between OD incidents and the unemployment rate was not statistically confirmed.
Discussion: A statistically significant increase in OD incidents dependant on company size can be arguably attributed to a higher quality of occupational medical services in bigger companies, which ensures better detection and diagnosis of OD. In the Plzeň Region, the rapid increase in OD incidents was mainly caused by a change in the production process of automobile textiles in one factory due to the introduction of a glue containing isocyanates, which are potent allergising agents.
This led to an increase in occupational allergic diseases - bronchial asthma in particular.