Risk Factors For Work-Related Eye Injuries Among Stone Quarry Workers: A Field Report

Occupational ocular health problems among marble workers at Shaq El Tho’ban industrial area in Egypt

“…This wide variation between our study and the other studies emphasizes that longer work experience reduces incidents of work-related eye injury and ensures proficiency. History of ocular foreign body was identified among 47.6% of workers that was in accordance with Ezisi (2019) where foreign body injuries affected 58.2% of stone workers and were the most common type of injuries. This was consistent with Edema et al (2009) who also identified foreign body as the most common type of eye injury in industrial workers as general.…”

“…On contrast, there were 32.8% of workers having work-related eye injuries as notified by Ezisi et al (2017). Also, on a study of risk factors for work-related eye injuries among stone quarry workers (Ezisi, 2019), 64.1% of workers had work-related eye injuries, more injuries occurred in the younger age group, and most of them were working for 5 years or less. There was conflict between the previous studies and Kanoff et al (2010) reporting higher injury occurrence among older age group mainly from inattention and easy fatigability.…”

“…At the marble processing site, dry, dusty, and heavily polluted environment are identified as the potential occupational hazards; moreover, crushed pieces of stone resulting from marble grinding and polishing are the most common source of injury (Ezisi, 2019). Exposure to airborne marble dust or particles cause irritation of conjunctiva leading to conjunctivitis, itchy, gritty, or foreign body sensations (Gromisch, 2017;Ezisi, 2019;Azuamah et al, 2019).…”

“…At the marble processing site, dry, dusty, and heavily polluted environment are identified as the potential occupational hazards; moreover, crushed pieces of stone resulting from marble grinding and polishing are the most common source of injury (Ezisi, 2019). Exposure to airborne marble dust or particles cause irritation of conjunctiva leading to conjunctivitis, itchy, gritty, or foreign body sensations (Gromisch, 2017;Ezisi, 2019;Azuamah et al, 2019). Working environment also may affect, as working in the open areas means being exposed to macroclimatic conditions and solar radiation accentuated by the reflection from the white marble which may affect the workers' sight, resulting in temporary blindness with major risk of accidents, photoconjunctivitis and photokeratitis, dermatitis, and possible heat stroke during the summer months (Angotzi et al, 2005).…”

Occupational health hazards of stone quarry workers of Nagaland, India

“…Active transmission of tuberculosis seems to be occurring among stone quarry workers (Carvalho Sousa et al 2020). Other researchers also reported various work-associated illnesses due to occupational exposure to dust such as general body ache (Pathak R. K. and Dkhar J. W. 2010), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Blanc et al 2009), hearing impairment as a result of exposure to excessive noise (Gyamfi et al 2016), eye injuries (Ezisi 2019), and musculoskeletal disorders (Njaka et al 2021). Exposure to heavy dust concentration from stone crushers can also produce diseases like pneumoconiosis (Zenz C. et al 1994).…”