Health and working conditions in carpenter's workshops in Armenia (Colombia)

Abstract

We conducted a study of the health and working conditions in 10 carpenter's workshops in the municipality of Armenia (Colombia). In these workshops, all the most exposed workers to wood dust were surveyed at the areas of sanding, brushing, immunization and painting (workers with the highest risk to get chronic respiratory disease). They were 177 workers. The use of hard and soft woods for furniture was detected. Besides, some pesticides, volatile organic solvents, synthetic epoxy resins glues and paintings, were used for finishes, which increases the risk of acquiring some neurological diseases and damage to the nervous system. Occurrence of cancer in nostrils mainly due to the use of hardwoods is an additional risk. With regard to the basic lighting conditions, it was found that half of workshops had deficiencies in special carving areas, because they were below the minimum allowable lighting limit level (500 lux). With relation to noise, all the workshops exceeded the permissible maximum limit value (85 dBA). With respect to the occurrence of occupational events, no data were found in the companies, or analysis of employee absenteeism due to the exposure to particulate matter.