CHRONIC EFFECT OF WELDING FUMES ON RESPIRATORY SYSTEM OF WELDERS, KOLKATA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Prabir Roy, Sugata Das, Dr. Anandi Bagchi and Dr. Subrata Ghosh*

ABSTRACT

Background: Welding is a precise, reliable, cost-effective, and high-tech method for joining materials in manufacturing industries. Occupationally welding is a kind of profession which requires extreme caution about safety and health management. Objectives: To detect the chronic effects of Arc-welding fumes on pulmonary function; to quantify specific damage profile of arc-welders in comparison to control counterpart and recommend some preventive measures to avoid the prevalence of the chronic lungs diseases and use of personal protective equipment to reduce the inhalation. Material & Methods: This comparative study was conducted amongst 96 subjects, where n=51 non-smoker welder subjects assigned as experimental group, whereas n=45 non-labour smoker subjects assigned as control group. All general physical parameters, physiological, metabolic and dynamic pulmonary parameters were performed between experimental & control groups by standardised procedure. Result: Experimental group showed high blood pressure and COHb% level. The values of all the lung function parameters individual non-smoker welder subjects were found to be lower as compared to those of the non-labour smoker subjects. Conclusion: Due to direct and repetitive exposure to chemical substances in daily welding, there was a deterioration of the lung function among the experimental group compare to smokers, who inhale 9-12 cigarette per week. Daily inhalation of tobacco is also hazardous for health. It required wearing musk during working time. Results further indicated that control group were less inhale chemical substances.

Keywords: Welder, smoker, COHb%, lung disorder, personal protective equipment.