Background: The aim of the paper was to present basic statistical data on occupational diseases diagnosed in 2012.
Material and methods: The work was based on the data from "Occupational Disease Reporting Forms" received by the Central Register of Occupational Diseases in 2012. The data comprised information on nosologic units, gender and age of patients, duration of occupational exposure, sections of the national economy and voivodeships. The incidence was specified in terms of the number of cases in relation to paid employees or to employed people.
Results: The number of occupational diseases accounted for 2402 cases. The incidence rate was 23 cases per 100 000 paid employees. In spite of the general decline in the number of cases, the incidence of infectious and parasitic diseases increased by 8.6%. The highest incidence was noted for infectious and parasitic diseases (6.8/100,000), pneumoconioses (5.5/100,000), hearing loss (2.1/100,000), diseases of: the peripheral nervous system (2/100,000), voice disorders (1.9/100,000) and the musculoskeletal system pathologies (1.1/100,000). The pathologies specified above accounted in total for 84% of all occupational diseases. The industrial sectors of the national economy characterized by the highest incidence included mining and quarrying (288.3/100,000) and manufacturing (27.8/100,000). The highest incidence was recorded in the Silesian (46.2/100,000) and the lowest in the Opolskie (4.2/100,000) voivodeships.
Conclusions: The downward trend in the incidence of occupational diseases continues. Different incidence of voice disorders among teachers in individual provinces suggests that uniform preventive, diagnostic and certification standards are missing.