Chemical and Physical Hazards in Different Small Workshops Activities

Abstract

Workers in informal small-scale industries (SSI) in developing countries involved in welding, spray painting, woodwork, and metalwork are exposed to various hazards with consequent risk to health. The present study was to assess occupational exposures to chemical and physical hazards among workers in small workshops. Three different industrial activities were selected for this study. These activities are: car repairing, welding, and wood processing. Inside the selected workshops, different physical hazards as noise, heat stress, illumination, and dust as well as air pollutants of carbon monoxide (CO) nitrogen dioxide, (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), and benzene were measured at the same two periods of the day (morning and evening) using calibrated devices. Analyzed data revealed high significant increase in the selected areas in the levels of noise, thermal stress, illumination, and dust during morning and evening exposure between as compared to the control area in the selected areas respectively. Only for NO2, levels of the other gases pollutants inside all exposed workshops are higher than those inside the control workshops. In conclusion, the workers at the studied industries were exposed to potential occupational hazards. These findings should be considered as s a preventive measures for monitoring and application of control strategies in such workplace environment