Cokeworkers’ mortality: a nine year follow-up in the British steel industry

This report describes mortality over a nine-year period among workers employed in coke ovens departments of the British Steel Corporation; fourteen such departments are considered.Of the 285 men identified as qualifying for the study, vital status was established for 2763 (96.8%) at 31st December 1977.On average, there were fewer deaths among men in the cohort than was expected from the experience of all men in Great Britain. Lung cancer mortality was higher than expected for all men in the appropriate regions of Great Britain. Comparison of works within England and Wales with the male industrial population of England and Wales showed observed numbers of lung cancer deaths to be similar to those expected but confirmed the unduly high proportion of such deaths.Lung cancer mortality among workers employed on specialised ovens jobs was little different from that found among men who had never worked on ovens prior to the inception of the study. Within the “”ovens”” work group there was a positive gradient in lung cancer mortality, significant at the 10 per cent level, with length of time employed on the ovens.Smoking habits of an incomplete sample of workers in the cohort were found to be similar to those of men outside the industry.The results are very similar to those reported a year ago from an associated study of other British coke works. They support the earlier suggestion that, in the British coke workers studied, there is an occupationally related lung cancer hazard and that this hazard is considerably less than that reported in the USA. Attention is drawn to the new result, consistent with American reports, which indicates that lung cancer mortality among ovens workers increases with increasing time spent in the ovens environment. “”