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Objective@#To quantitatively compare five occupational health risk assessment models in assessing silica dust hazard risk in small open pits, so as to provide the reference for the research of occupational health risk assessment methodology@*Methods @#Seven small open pits were selected as the evaluation sites. The models from Singapore, the United Kingdom's Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Essentials ( COSHH Essentials ), Australia, Romania, and the International Council on Mining and Metals ( ICMM ) were applied to assessing the occupational health risk of the workers exposed to silica dust. The risk ratios ( RRs ) were calculated, and the parallelism, accuracy and correlation of the evaluation results of the five models were compared. @*Results @#The RRs of the Singaporean model, COSHH model, Romanian model, Australian model and ICMM model were 0.8, 1.0, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8, respectively. The Singaporean model and the Australian model were able to distinguish transport drivers from sprinkler drivers in the health risk exposed to silica dust, which was consistent with the actual risk of the two posts. Except for COSHH model, the RRs of the other four models were positively correlated ( P<0.05 ); the RRs were all positively correlated with concentration ratios ( CRs ) ( P<0.05 ), and the correlation coefficient between RRs and CRs of the Singaporean model was the largest (0.801).@*Conclusion @#Among the five models, the Singaporean model can more accurately evaluate the hazard risk of silica dust in posts of open pits, and has a good correlation with the other models.
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Background: It is estimated that exposures in the workplace account for around one in ten cases respiratory morbidities in adulthood. Being a respiratory ailment, this group of disorders impairs the pulmonary functions. The objective of the study was to assess the work-related health hazards, personal hygiene and utilization of personal protective equipments among stone quarry workers in Wardha district in Maharashtra. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted among 348 subjects working in the stone quarries situated in Yelakeli, Deoli, Paloti, Pulgaon, Borgaon, Nachangaon in Wardha district in Maharashtra. Results: 114 (32.75%) of the people reportedly had respiratory problems, body ache was reported by 154 (44.2%), eye problem was reported by 66 (18.9%), fever was told by 13 people (3.7%), other problems (like hearing related, skin, GIT etc) reported were 14 (4.02%). Chi-square test was found to be non-significant. Conclusions: None of the workers had undergone pre-placement examination. Personal protective measures are rarely used by stone quarry workers
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Aim: The present study was conducted to test the knowledge and attitude of sand-stone quarry workers of Jodhpur on tuberculosis. Material and Methods: Nineteen sand-stone quarry sites were selected randomly in Jodhpur district from which 376 quarry workers were interviewed who consented to participate in the study. Results: Their literacy rate was 28.5%. More than half (50.5%) had heard about tuberculosis from neighbours followed by friends (42.6%) and family members (37.2%). Only 1.6% knew that tuberculosis was caused by germs and 45.2% respondents had misconception that TB was a hereditary disease. Literates were more aware than illiterates about symptoms of tuberculosis. Only 6.9% knew about the need of treatment for 6-8 months and 0.8% knew about the use of BCG vaccine for prevention of tuberculosis. Tendency to discriminate TB patients was evident as 72.6% respondents opined to isolate TB patients from the family and 80.6% opined to avoid sharing food with these patients. Conclusion: Extensive health education directed towards bringing a change in attitude among sandstone quarry workers is needed to create awareness and remove myths about tuberculosis in such groups of people in the community.