OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURES AND HEALTH HAZARDS IN PARA RUBBER WOOD SAWMILLS IN TRANG PROVINCE, THAILAND

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of this study were 1) to identify Job safety analysis (JSA) and hazard identification for occupational health risk exposures and health hazards for work accident prevention in Para rubber wood sawmills and 2) to assess the associations between respiratory symptoms and pulmonary defects of Para rubber sawmill workers. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, including a walk-through survey, JSA and personal and environmental wood dust and noise samplings, pulmonary function and spirometry tests between October 2015 and February 28, 2016 at 4 Para rubber wood sawmills in Trang Province. In totall, 687 Para rubber sawmill workers were participating from four sawmills completed questionnaire interviews, and a subset of sawmill workers from four factories participated in spirometric measurements and personal dust samplings. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore risk factors for pulmonary impairments. Results and Discussion: Potential occupational safety and health hazards associated with six main processes had been evaluated, including logging and cutting, sawing the lumber into sheets, plaining and re-arranging, vacuuming and wood preservation, drying and planks re-arranging, and grading, packing, and storing. JSA and hazard identification on working process in sawmills showed high risk levels of wood dust and noise exposure, occupational accidents on hands and feet, chemicals and fungicide exposure and ergonomics or repetitive works. The workers exposed highest noise levels at sawing department(Median=92.7 dBA).The exposed workers had higher in respirable wood dust exposure (0.902mg/m3) compared with the unexposed groups (0.185 mg/m3). The exposed group had significantly higher prevalence than the unexposed group for chest tightness (OR = 2.79; p=0.01) and shortness of breath (OR = 2.27; p=0.04). The ventilatory function values (FEV1 and FVC) were lower for the exposed group compared with the unexposed group (2.41 Vs 2.55 L/s and 2.91 Vs 3.01 L/s, respectively). Results suggest that the sawmills should implement appropriate exposure control measures to reduce wood dust and noise exposure. The authors recommended the administrative controls and engineering controls for minimizing possible accidents and hazardous exposures. All sawmill workers were strongly recommended to use personal protective equipment in any working processes.