Occupational diseases, a changing risk

AT A RECENT NEWS CONFERENCE, the Healthy China Promotion Commission, an agency affiliated to the National Health Commission, said that certain diseases such as cervical spondylosis are becoming increasingly common among office workers. The commission's experts also proposed to add these diseases to the list of occupational diseases. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Whenever the phrase "occupational disease" appears, people always think about the pneumoconiosis of miners or the leukaemia of indoor decoration workers.

That's because in the past less emphasis was placed on health and safety and workers doing hazardous jobs lacked proper protection. However, working conditions have been constantly improving and the number of people doing hazardous jobs has been falling. As a result, the number of people with occupational diseases such as pneumoconiosis or leukaemia has declined.