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ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF WORK OF TAXI DRIVERS

https://doi.org/10.33573/ujoh2017.01.031

Grebnyak N. P., Fedorchenko R. A.

ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF WORK OF TAXI DRIVERS

Zaporozhye State Medical University

Full article (PDF), UKR

Introduction. The growing man-made pressure on the environment gives rise to a number of different environmental problems. In the cities, transport is the main link of their operation on one hand, and on the other - one of the dominant sources of pollution. These factors promote development of adverse environmental conditions for the professional activities of taxi drivers, who are in the midst of the pollution from mobile sources. Atmospheric pollution from motor vehicles exerts a significant effect on the incidence of respiratory diseases, cancer, prevalence of diseases of the cardiovascular system, blood and bloodforming organs. Among the drivers of cars it is recorded a higher incidence of temporary disability and disability.

Рurpose –To identify the main factors showing the specificity of work of taxi drivers in a large industrial city with eco-environmental change.

Materials and methods. In order to characterize the environmental situation in the area of operations of the taxi drivers, the following indicators were used: general emissions from mobile sources, specific emissions per 1 km2, the total rate of air pollution (ΣРР/МРР). Determination of the composition and intensity of traffic were carried out in four nodes of transport interchanges. The observations were made during the light time of the day. The studied occupational groups numbered 78 drivers.

Results. The industrial ecology for taxi drivers can be presented as a model, a constituent unit of which is "Urbanization typology", "Industrial emissions", "Meteorological conditions", "Transport and technological factors of the air pollution", "Factors, aggravating the harmful effects of pollutants", "Health status". The backbone element is the working conditions of drivers of minibuses, which, on one hand, are formed by a number of environmental and occupational factors. On the other hand, the working conditions determine the state of health of drivers in the industrial center. The dominant feature of the atmospheric pollution is a steady increase in the proportion of mobile sources in the total amount of emissions. For example, if the share of the road transport emissions in Zaporozhye was 8,7 % in 1990, in 2011 it made 28,8 %, in 2014. – 30,6 %. This led to average annual emissions from motor vehicles over the period 2009–2014, which amounted to (44852,7 ± 1484,3) tons and specific emissions to 132365,8 kg/km2. From the vehicles into the air of the industrial city it was emitted carbon dioxide (1461990,3 kg/km2), carbon monoxide (101822,8 kg/km2) and non-methane compounds (15183,7 kg/km2).

Conclusions. In the modern period the air pollution from motor transport in industrial cities is a great problem, which is complicated by the difficulty of dispersion in the breathing zone. The air pollution in industrial cities is one of causes of occupational health risks for taxi drivers. There have been determined several factors showing the specificity of work of taxi drivers in eco-changing environment of the industrial city. These are: "Urbanization typology", "Industrial emissions", "Meteorological conditions", "Transport and technological factors of the air pollution", "Factors, aggravating the harmful effects of pollutants", "Health status".

Key words: taxi drivers, working conditions, environment pollution

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