Occupational safety measures and morbidity among welders in Vellore, Southern India.

Autor:	Alexander V; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Sindhu KN; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Zechariah P; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Resu AV; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Nair SR; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Kattula D; b Division of GI Sciences , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Mohan VR; a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India., Alex T RG; c Department of General Medicine , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	International journal of occupational and environmental health [Int J Occup Environ Health] 2016 Oct; Vol. 22 (4), pp. 300-306. Date of Electronic Publication: 2016 Sep 28.
DOI:	10.1080/10773525.2016.1228287
Abstrakt:	Background: Welders in the unorganized occupational sector in the economically developing world are exposed to respiratory, skin, eye, ear, and neurological problems exacerbated by non-usage of personal protective equipment (PPE). Objective: To study the frequency of health problems and the usage of PPE among welders in unorganized welding units in Vellore, India. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 150 welders to determine the frequency of skin, ear, eye, and respiratory morbidity and the usage of PPE. A group of 150 non-welders were chosen for comparison. Results: Significant differences in the frequency of skin burns, redness, hyper pigmentation, itching, eye injuries, and sensorineural deafness were observed among the welders and non-welders (P < 0.001). Hypertension was noted in 12.6% of the welders as compared to 0.7% among the non-welders. None of the welders used appropriate PPE. For welders, low educational attainment was associated with an increased risk of eye injury (P < 0.05, OR = 0.29). There was also a significant difference between sensorineural deafness and a welder having less than 10 years of welding work experience (P < 0.001, OR = 18.18) which could probably be accounted for by the healthy worker effect. Conclusion: Welders in this sample experienced a significant skin, eye, and ear morbidity accentuated by the non-usage of PPE. All worked without formal training and were unaware of the safe working guidelines that exist, but are not implemented for the welders in India.
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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