Construction workers' skin disorders in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases 2005-2016.

Background: Construction workers are a known risk group for occupational skin disease (OSD).

Objective: To study diagnoses and causes of OSD in construction workers in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases (FROD) 2005-2016.

Methods: We searched the FROD for dermatological cases in (a) construction-related occupations defined by the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) and (b) in the industrial branch of construction defined by the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2).

Results: The two searches yielded the same number of cases, 329, although they were not identical subgroups. The number of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) cases was 235 (71%) in construction-related occupations and 228 (69%) in the industrial branch of construction. In the latter analysis, synthetic resin systems caused 66% of ACD cases and 46% of all OSDs, epoxy compounds being the leading cause (122 cases; 54% of ACD cases; 37% of all OSDs). Metals were the second most common group of causes of ACD with 31 cases (chrome 22 cases; cobalt 8 cases). Isothiazolinones caused ACD in 21 cases, many of whom were painters.

Conclusions: ACD dominated the OSDs of construction workers and epoxy products were by far the leading cause comprising 37% of all OSDs. Chrome and isothiazolinones were also prominent causes of ACD.