بررسي وضعيت بهداشت حرفه اي در واحدهاي كوچك صنفي شهر سبزوار

Surveying the condition of occupational safety and hygiene in manufacturing and technical trade units in Sabzevar

Background: In our country about 95% of workplaces have less than ten workers. Totally, the number of trade units is estimated to be 750000 under the supervision of 3500 trade unions. This study has been done in order to survey the condition of occupational hygiene of these trade units in Sabzevar. Materials and methods: In this cross sectional study, 100 trade units have been selected from 20 trade unions by stratified random sampling and surveyed by questionnaires and direct observation. Results: Approximately, 34.5% of units have unfavourable health facilities. Regarding the exposure with harmful agents, 27.4% of workers were exposed to noise, 25.9% were in touch with harmful chemical compounds, 82.7% had unfavourable ergonomics condition. Safety measures were as follow: 35% of workers were exposed to safe-guards-free equipments and 73.3% of workers did not use persona] protective equipments. 37% of workers were not aware of safe-guards of the equipments. Totally, 31%) of workers believed that accidents may cause by chance. Conclusion: The trade units had unfavourable health facilities, harmful agents and hazards more than the large- and medium-sized industries. Reviewing the project of liaisons of health occupational hygiene, employing professional staffs as trade health officials and increasing the occupational hygiene awareness of workers may improve the overall conditions of workers