Aiba Yoko, Aoyagi Mikiharu, Nagoya Toshio, Shimizu Hidesuke
Tokyo Occupational Safety and Health Education Center, Japan Industrial Safety and Health Association, 1-4-6 Umezono, Kiyose City, Tokyo 204-0024, Japan.
Sangyo Eiseigaku Zasshi. 2014;56(6):268-74. doi: 10.1539/sangyoeisei.E14003. Epub 2014 Sep 9.
The aim of this survey was to clarify the current status of the use of respirators among dust workers in outdoor working environments.
The participants were 38 male workers exposed to dust, who were engaged in arc welding or quarrying in outdoor working environments. We interviewed participants about wearing and storage of respirators on site. The participants were asked 9 questions about the selection, use, fitness, maintenance, storage, and instruction in the use of respirators.
The results of this study show that all participants wore the approved dust respirators, even though it is not legally necessary to wear a respirator in outdoor working environments. Instruction about the use of respirators was found to be effective regarding inspection of the valve and headband, the fitness between the facepiece and face, the time of wearing, and storage place. However, the interviews revealed that there was insufficient knowledge about the reasons for and frequency of filter replacement. Compared to our preliminary study, the use of a knitcover decreased from 73% to 21%.
These findings suggest that workers should be given better information on the selection, use, maintenance, and storage place of respirators to protect workers against dust exposure.
本次调查旨在明确户外工作环境中粉尘作业工人使用呼吸器的现状。
参与者为38名接触粉尘的男性工人，他们在户外工作环境中从事电弧焊或采石工作。我们就现场呼吸器的佩戴和存放情况对参与者进行了访谈。向参与者询问了9个关于呼吸器的选择、使用、贴合性、维护、存放以及使用说明方面的问题。
本研究结果表明，尽管在户外工作环境中法律上并无强制要求佩戴呼吸器，但所有参与者均佩戴了经批准的防尘呼吸器。在呼吸器阀门和头带检查、面罩与面部的贴合性、佩戴时间以及存放地点方面，呼吸器使用说明被证明是有效的。然而，访谈显示，对于更换滤芯的原因和频率，相关知识不足。与我们的初步研究相比，针织面罩的使用比例从73%降至21%。
这些研究结果表明，应向工人提供关于呼吸器选择、使用、维护及存放地点的更充分信息，以保护工人免受粉尘暴露。
