Health disorders and safety measures among workers in Tanta Flax and Oil Company, Egypt

Flax industry has an adverse effect on health status of exposed workers especially in developing countries with lack of appropriate safety measures to identify the health hazards, health disorders among workers in flax and oil company, and to assess the applied safety measures in the factory. A cros...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science and pollution research international 2021-03, Vol.28 (11), p.13981-13990
Main Authors: El-Feky, Asmaa Ali, Kabbash, Ibrahim Ali, Zayet, Hussein Hassan, El-Sallamy, Rania Moustafa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Byssinosis
Cross-Sectional Studies
Departments
Developing countries
Disorders
Dust - analysis
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecotoxicology
Egypt
Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Health
Environmental science
Exposure
Factories
Flax
Formaldehyde
Hazard identification
Health hazards
Humans
Industrial plants
Industrial safety
LDCs
Manufacturing
Medical personnel
Occupational Diseases
Occupational Exposure
Occupational health
Occupational safety
Oil
Particle board
Physical examinations
Protective equipment
Pulmonary functions
Research Article
Safety measures
Statistical analysis
Tightness
Waste Water Technology
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
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Summary:Flax industry has an adverse effect on health status of exposed workers especially in developing countries with lack of appropriate safety measures to identify the health hazards, health disorders among workers in flax and oil company, and to assess the applied safety measures in the factory. A cross sectional study was conducted in Tanta Flax and Oil Company in Egypt . The company includes eight factories which are divided into four departments according to the manufacturing end products. The study was conducted from August 2018 to December 2019 on 353 workers out of 400 workers. An interview questionnaire and clinical medical examination were done to assess the health status of exposed workers. Check list from occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) standards was filled by researcher to check safety measures in work place environment. Respiratory manifestations were detected in 65% of the examined workers in flax manufacturing departments while allergic manifestations were more obvious in formaldehyde factory department. Approximately one quarter of workers complained that personal protective equipment’s are not available. Regarding the mask for dust, nearly half (44.5%) of the workers rarely used them, and only 7.1% always use them. Byssinosis was obvious among workers in flax manufacturing and particle board manufacturing department with statistically significant differences between the four departments, in which 36.9% and 24.1% of workers in these two departments suffered from chest tightness, respectively. The safety measures were inadequate in flax manufacturing departments and to somewhat sufficient in formaldehyde factory department. Most of exposed workers had inadequate health status due to lack of standard safety measures. Therefore, periodic medical examination should be done regularly with investigation of pulmonary functions of exposed workers with application of high level of safety measure standards in the work place environment.
ISSN:0944-1344
1614-7499
DOI:10.1007/s11356-020-11588-0