State and prospects of hygienic regulation of the production environment with a reduced oxygen content (literature review)

The work is devoted to the physiological and hygienic foundations of the safety of activities in the conditions of the changed gas environment and characteristics of the main medical measures for the employees’ protection in a hypoxic environment, the analysis of domestic and foreign data, the study of working conditions in the environment with the reduced oxygen concentration in the air. Investigations were carried out on premises with various technological processes, a changing environment, and a reduced oxygen concentration when employees perform multiple operations. The health status of workers was assessed depending on the time spent in the changed gas environment and the percentage of oxygen. Having analyzed the regulatory documents currently existing in the Russian Federation on the assessment and control of production factors, working conditions in confined spaces with a low oxygen concentration in the air, air environment to maintain health, high performance, and prevent diseases, experts concluded that it is necessary to develop Sanitary Rules and Norms, SanPiN “Sanitary and Epidemiological Requirements for Habitability (Stay) in Confined Spaces with a Low Oxygen Concentration in the Air” because currently there is no document existing specifically on this issue. The literature was searched in the databases Scopus, Web of Science, MedLine, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Global Health, CyberLeninka, RSCI. There were prepared draft sanitary plans and standards “Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the environment with a reduced concentration of oxygen in the air,” which establish sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the environment with a reduced concentration of oxygen in the air, as well as for the organization of control, methods measurements of air components at workplaces and measures to prevent harmful effects on the health of workers. They apply to work conditions in the living environment for all premises with a reduced oxygen concentration in the air.