Seafood processing in South Africa: a study of working practices, occupational health services and allergic health problems in the industry

The work practices, occupational health services and allergic health proble ms among workplaces which process seafood in Western Cape province of South Africa were examined. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 68 workp laces that were sent a self-administered postal survey questionnaire. Workp laces reporting a high prevalence of work-related symptoms associated with seafood exposure were also inspected. Forty-one (60%) workplaces responded to the questionnaire, The workforce consisted mainly of women (62%) and 31% were seasonal workers. Common seafoods processed were bony fish (76%) and rock lobster (34%). Major work processes involved freezing (71%), cutting ( 63%) and degutting (58%). Only 45% of workplaces provided an on-site occupa tional health service and 58% of workplaces conducted medical surveillance. Positive trends were observed between workplace size and activities such a s occupational health service provision (P = 0.002), medical surveillance p rogrammes (P = 0.055) and reporting work-related symptoms (P = 0.016). None of the workplaces had industrial hygiene surveillance programmes to evalua te the effects of exposure to seafood. Common work-related symptoms include d skin rashes (78%), asthma (7%) and other non-specific allergies (15%). Th e annual prevalence of work-related skin symptoms reported per workplace wa s substantially higher for skin (0 - 100%) than for asthmatic (0 -5%) sympt oms. The relatively low prevalence of employer-reported asthmatic symptoms, when compared to epidemiological studies using direct investigator assessm ent of individual health status, suggests likely under-detection. This can be attributed to under-provision and under-development of occupational heal th surveillance programmes in workplaces with less than 200 workers. This i s compounded further by the lack of specific statutory guidelines for the e valuation and control of bio-aerosols in South African workplaces.