Prevalence of respiratory symptoms among cement workers at Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
The respiratory system is the cement industry's most weak organ. Air pollution, with a range of health consequences, known to cause major public health issues. Few studies have been carried out on acute effects of cement dust exposure on Occupational Health and Safety of the workers. The obj...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/103869/1/PERAKAS%20RAV%20AL%20AANANANDHA%20-%20IR.pdf |
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| Summary: | The respiratory system is the cement industry's most weak organ. Air pollution,
with a range of health consequences, known to cause major public health
issues. Few studies have been carried out on acute effects of cement dust
exposure on Occupational Health and Safety of the workers. The objective of
this study is to determine the prevalence of occupational safety and health
among cement workers using lung functions test in Ipoh, Perak. This study is
conducted to investigate the associations between current "total" dust exposure
and acute respiratory symptoms and lung function among cement factory
workers. This study was conducted in a cement factory in Ipoh, Perak. A total
of 104 workers involved in this study. This study design is cross-sectional study
utilising the quantitative method and polling sampling method was utilised to
sample the respondents based on the inclusion criteria in order to measure the
particulate matter from different work stations (raw material, kiln and packing),
respiratory symptoms data and lung function test. The data were obtained by a
set of questionnaire adapted from the European Community Respiratory Health
Survey II (EC-RHS II, 2014), spirometer and DustTrak. Kiln workstation
recorded the highest distribution of lung function abnormalities. Meanwhile, the
highest reading of dust measurements is in the packing (0.44 mg/m3). This is
due to the work process in this work station which generated high volume of
dust. The correlation between the dust exposure and lung function, FVC and
FEV1 showed significant relationship with the exposure of dust with value of (r
= -0.307, p-value = 0.002) and (r = -0.270, p-value = 0.006) respectively. Most
significant symptoms reported by the workers was coughing in the morning (pvalue
= 0.044). The comparison of lung function between all work station, FVC
and FEV1 shows statistical differences among work station with the value of (z
= 9.568, p-value = 0.008) and (z = 7.769, p-value = 0.021) respectively.
Majority of the workers had respiratory symptoms of shortness of breath. The
highest number of workers that exposed to the dust was workers from the kiln
work station. To conclude, there is a prevalence of occupational safety and
health among cement workers using lung functions test in Ipoh, Perak. This study shows that respiratory problems are associated with exposure to cement
dust. Exposure to high concentration of cement dust in the cement
manufacturing facility is associated with the decrease in the lung function of the
workers. The exposure of dust also found to be responsible for the increased
prevalence of respiratory symptoms towards of the respondents. Personal
monitoring using compact, battery-powered equipment allows for the
assessment of an individual's exposure while they go about their everyday
activities. Personal monitoring can significantly minimise misclassification of
exposure and increase the ability to find associations between particle pollution
and negative health consequences Also, cement dust exposure could be
decreased by using wet or dry dust reduction engineering controls, enclosed
cabs, and implementing a dust control program. Furthermore, this research can
be used as a baseline for the core business. It is also critical for management
to arrange with specialists such as Occupational Health Doctors (OHD) for a
thorough medical examination and frequent lung function tests more frequently
for their workers. |
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