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



To study the frequency of health problems and the usage of PPE among welders in unorganized welding units in Vellore, India.



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.



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.



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.
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Vijay
V
Alexander
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Kulandaipalayam Natarajan C
KN
Sindhu
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Pradeep
P
Zechariah
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Abigail Veravolu
AV
Resu
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Suryanarayan Rajendran
SR
Nair
b Division of GI Sciences , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Deepthi
D
Kattula
a Department of Community Health , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Venkata Raghava
VR
Mohan
c Department of General Medicine , Christian Medical College , Vellore , India.
Reginald George
RG
Alex T
D000328:Adult; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003638:Deafness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005131:Eye Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016272:Occupational Health; D000067393:Personal Protective Equipment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014896:Welding; D055815:Young Adult
Ocular injury; Personal protective equipment; Respiratory morbidity; Sensorineural hearing loss; Skin problems; Welders
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