‘The work-related diseases situation in Sverdlovsk Region is not getting any better. What is more, the statistics for illnesses not directly related to one’s professional activity look dramatically worse. There are virtually no healthy people in the production process at the moment. We run special programs for children and retired workers, but no one takes care of those who produce the gross national product,’ head of Labor Surveillance Department of Rospotrebnadzor’s (the state consumer rights watchdog) Sverdlovsk Region division Vadim Ruzakov told Oblastnaya Gazeta.

According to Ruzakov, the sites where the risk of work-related illnesses is higher than in the region on average are Severouralsk bauxite mine (SUBR), Bogoslovsky and Berezovsky ore mining facilities, Bogoslovsky and Kamensk-Uralsky smelters, Uralasbest, Uralelectromed, Nizhniy Tagil Iron & Steel Works (NTMK), and other enterprises.