Service de médecine légale, du travail, de l’éthique et de la toxicologie, Faculté des sciences et technique de la santé, Université Gamal Abdel Nasser de Conakry, Guinea
Objective: Evaluate the perception of cement workers in Guinea on their physical working conditions.
Materials and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey of 112 workers occupying open offices (5 to 10m2), lasting 6 months from August 1, 2021 to January 31, 2022.
The GABO questionnaire (Acoustic Discomfort in an Open Office) was used.
Results: 112 workers responded to the survey. The male gender was the most represented with an M/F sex ratio of 10.2. Among respondents, 59% shared the workspace with 2 to 6 people; 8% worked alone. Nearly half were moderately satisfied with their workspace (average of 2.88 out of 5).
The perception of the comfort of their workspace was good (average 3.17 out of 5). 68.75% felt that the noise in their workspace was high and annoying or even very annoying. The highest source of noise 68.75% and the most annoying 66.97% was the operation of machines. 78.43% felt moderately or even very tired at the end of the day, among them 70.50% had an average recovery capacity of two working days.
Conclusion: The results of the study show that working conditions at Cement of Guinea are unsatisfactory.
This study should therefore be extended to other companies to be able to improve working conditions in order to prevent the long-term consequences of the various factors that influence the working environment.
Objective: Given the importance in Guinea of the informal economy with an estimated share of 43% of GDP and 96% of jobs. The profession of welder, like other professions in the informal sector, is not exercised without risk. Our study aimed to assess the occupational risks associated with welding in the workshops of the municipality of Matoto, Conakry.
Method: This was a prospective descriptive study lasting one year from January 5, 2021 to December 31, 2021.
Welders from the informal professional sector in the welding workshops of the municipality of Matoto, who were present and who agreed to participate in the study, were included. The data were analyzed using the Epi-info statistical software version 7.2.2.6.
Result: We registered 212 male welders. The average age of the welders was 28.33 ± 12.46 years. The age group from 15 to 29 years old was the most represented at 59.3%. Common damage was arc flash 88.2%; followed by skin burns 84.4%, hand cuts/wounds 78.3. Only 0.5% of workshops had a fire extinguisher, 3.3% handling accessories. The occurrence of arc flash was significantly associated with exposure to UV/IR from the welding arc (p = 0.0000). Foreign body in the eye was associated with full-time work (p = 0.0024).
Conclusion: The welder’s experienced significant eye and skin morbidity accentuated by the non-use of collective and individual protective measures. Factors such as level of education, income, seniority and full-time work were significantly associated with self-reported injuries and PPE use among welders (p ˂ 0.05).