[Alcohol and construction workers].
OBJECTIVE
On the basis of the data drawn by national and international literature and the introduction of recent legislation concerning "alcohol and alcohol-related problems", we studied alcohol consumption and the consequences that alcohol abuse has on health, working ability, accidents and absenteeism in construction workers.


METHODS
We studied alcohol consumption in two groups of building workers over different periods (1996-2000; 2006). In 142 workers alcohol concentration was measured in expired air during the periodic health surveillance examination and during work on building sites. We also analyzed the relationship between declared alcohol consumption, accidents and absenteeism.


RESULTS
Our study showed a reduction in the average consumption of alcohol over the last ten years but confirmed the role of alcohol-related diseases as a cause of work limitations or work disability. On the other hand, "breathalysing" demonstrated that alcohol consumption during pauses in work is still common.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study confirm the correlation between frequency/seriousness of accidents, absenteeism and average consumption of alcohol.
Unità Operativa Ospedaliera Medicina del Lavoro, Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo, Italy. gmosconi@ospedaliriuniti.bergamo.it
G
G
Mosconi
M M
MM
Riva
S
S
Lorenzi
Giulia
G
Silva
F
F
Bartolozzi
Greta
G
Pavesi
Claudia
C
Bancone
O
O
Bettineschi
D
D
Magno
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*