Evaluation of Major Occupational Hazards Encountered in the Furniture Production Process on Employee Health (original) (raw)

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) practices in Turkey focus on sectors with high accident frequency and certain occupational diseases. According to the 2012 year data of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which divides the workplaces into 88 activity groups, it has determined the furniture sector as 18 th in terms of the number of workplaces, 26 th in terms of the number of employees, 19 th in terms of occupational accidents and 25 th in terms of occupational diseases, shows the necessity of investigating the working conditions of the furniture industry in Turkey in detail. In this study; in order to define the occupational hazards on employee health arising from the furniture production processes, of a chosen facility producing wooden furniture in Tekirdag were examined for 4 months. The data obtained as a result of defining and measuring the main workplace hazards and periodic health surveillance data, including the health reports of the employees, were evaluated together with the help of the Occupational Physician of the facility and the impact of the main workplace impacts of the investigated production process on employee health was defined. As a result of the study; it has been understood that the change in workplace air quality may have significant effects on employee health. It has been clearly seen that among these effects, especially the noise factor, is a main factor that occurs frequently on the furniture industry workers and causes different levels of influence. In addition, although workplace dust factor, which can occur at different intensities in different steps of the production processes due to the raw material, remains at a low level with preventive measures such as the use of dust collection systems in the facility, the dermatitis-type effects caused by these dusts on the skin can be visibly noticed, however, it was understood that adequate controls and necessary health screenings for diagnosis could not be made within the facility. On the other hand, no serious health problems have been identified due to exposure to chemicals used in the facility. In the future, detailed scientific studies on the reduction and elimination of noise and dust factors , which are determined to be the most important workplace environment effects in this enterprise , and the definition of good practices will also guide the facilities that produce similar products.