@article{ref1,
title="Occupational safety measures and morbidity among welders in Vellore, Southern India",
journal="International journal of occupational and environmental health",
year="2016",
author="Alexander, Vijay and Sindhu, Kulandaipalayam Natarajan C. and Zechariah, Pradeep and Resu, Abigail Veravolu and Nair, Suryanarayan Rajendran and Kattula, Deepthi and Mohan, Venkata Raghava and Alex T, Reginald George",
volume="22",
number="4",
pages="300-306",
abstract="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). <br><br>OBJECTIVE: To study the frequency of health problems and the usage of PPE among welders in unorganized welding units in Vellore, India. <br><br>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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1077-3525",
doi="10.1080/10773525.2016.1228287",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10773525.2016.1228287"
}