Evaluation of occupational exposure of carpet weavers in northern province of Madhya Pradesh (India) during different seasons

OBJECTIVES We investigated general working conditions in the carpet manufacturing industry and assessed the health risk factors of weavers working in this industry. MATERIALS AND METHODS Noise level, light intensity, temperature and humidity were measured with the help of sound level meter, lux meter and thermohygrometer, respectively at the workplace and the result were subjected to One Way Analysis of Variance. A pretested questionnaire was used to evaluate the health problems among different weavers working in the carpet industry. RESULTS Results indicated that the weavers in these units were exposed to extreme environmental conditions. The majority of these weavers were suffering from eye irritation, back pain, allergies, general weakness, hearing loss, with most workers having three to five of these health problems. Our study reported higher incidence of musculoskeletal and respiratory diseases among weavers, during different season. CONCLUSION A large variation during different seasons is an indication that environmental conditions play an important role in determining the health of weavers at the workplace. Results clearly demonstrate that working conditions were not suitable for the type of work carried out by the weavers.