Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) and respiratory symptom among Casting Industry Workers: an exploratory study in Northern India

With the global liberalization industries in India are growing at a very fast pace, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) like; foundries, mining industries, food processing industries etc. But due to lack of use of advanced technologies by SMEs, the labourers are exposed to dusty and hazardous environment and they are getting more prone to lungs related diseases. This problem is more acute in SMEs especially casting industries where either the attention to labour’ safety is much down the priority list or the labour involved is uneducated and are unaware of the health hazards the respirable dust and the importance of the safety equipment in the job. The present study is focused on assessment of respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) exposure among workers of small scale casting Industry of Northern India. Qualitative data was collected through a comprehensive questionnaire in various sections like; machining section, grinding section, moulding section. 224 workers were interviewed personally. SKC Leland Legacy pump was used for dust sampling on 2.0 μm pore size PTFE (Teflon ® ) filter at flow rate of 9.0 liters/min. The grinding section was found with highest dust concentration among all the sections. The study concluded that most of the workers working in SMEs are not wearing proper protective equipment. This is due to two reasons; unawareness among workers and due to negligence of the management as well as workers. This leads to the respiratory symptoms among the workers. It is therefore recommended that they must be educated regarding health and safety measures at work place.