Assessment of pulmonary fitness of stone art workers in Rajasthan

Abstract

Rajasthan produces over 95% of the marble produced in India. The workers mainly involved in marble cutting, stone art and transportation of marble plates are exposed to marble dust which occurs across a range of marble factories. The marble dust particles have high concentration of silica. The workers usually inhale a large amount of dust during working as well as non-working time period also. The present study was done with the objective to assess the pulmonary fitness of the workers engaged in stone art work. The study comprised of a sample of 30 male workers engaged in stone art industries from at least last five years. To measure the pulmonary fitness capacity of workers PEFR (Peak Expiratory Flow Rate) meter was used for the workers in different sections of the stone art units viz; Designing, Tracing, Jewelry making, Calibration, Engraving, Fixing and Polishing. The results elicited that the majority of workers were having lung capacity less than 50% of the standard PEFR values. The results of pulmonary ventilation capacity of workers clearly designate the fact that as age of workers advanced the pulmonary fitness level reduced. The possible reason for this may be with advancing age the number of years of exposure to environmental pollutions i.e. stone dust increases, which affects the pulmonary fitness of workers negatively.