Author Description

The IP has sponsored major epidemiological studies of UK oil refinery and distribution workers over the last 21 years. Previous results of the study were published in 1980, 1991 and 1995. The original study, prepared by the University of Birmingham, cohorts comprised 34,569 refinery and 23,358 distribution workers. All these male employees had a minimum employment of 12 months during the period 1950-1975. As some of the study subjects were first employed around the turn of the last century, Birmingham, for its review and report redefined the cohorts so that they would be more relevant to, and representative of, more recent work conditions which could be described with more confidence. The revised cohorts were 28,630 refinery and 16,480 distribution workers, which still comprises one of the largest single oil industry cohort studies ever undertaken. The objectives of the study were to summarise available cohorts' mortality data and to determine whether any part of the cohorts' mortality experience might be related to occupational exposures, in which event further analyses capable of investigating the potential role of occupational exposures might be needed. compared with expectations based on UK national mortality rates to determine the Standardised Mortality Ratios (SMR's). For the overall study cohort the resultant SMR's were significantly below 100 for all causes of death and for most of the main causes of death. The individual refinery and distribution cohorts' results are discussed in detail in each of the reports. The researchers concluded that, the findings of this analysis should be welcome news for UK refinery and petroleum distribution workers. Their overall mortality is well below the national average. If you have any questions or comments please contact Prof. Tom Sorohan, Institute of Occupational Health, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT or the Institute of Petroleum.