[The meteorological factors influencing the number of man-hours lost by workers in the engineering industry (author's transl)].

Abstract

For 4,000 men aged from 35 to 50 years, all employed in an industrial plant in Poznan a record was made of the daily number of the first sick-notes issued as a result of accidents, acute inflammation of the respiratory tract and exacerbation of chronic diseases which accounted for a total of 82 per cent of the absence from work. On the days which showed an increased incidence of accidents and exacerbations of chronic diseases, the weather charts issued by the Institute of Meteorology indicated a statistically significant and more frequent prevalence of meteorotropically active weather conditions over Poland. In contrast, the number of sicknesses due to an acute inflammation of the respiratory tract increased significantly on the day following the passage of a warm or cold weather front in Poland. Such losses of working hours also occurred more frequently during the colder season, while absence from the workplace due to accidents increased during the warm season.