A Study for Prevention of Byssinosis in a Garment Factory

Abstract

This descriptive research aimed to study the prevalence of Byssinosis and the relationship between years of working experiences and the use of face masks, and incidence of Byssinosis among garment factory workers in Muang district, Nakhonpathom province. Participants were 200 workers selected by stratified sampling. The study was conducted from October 2018 to September 2019. Data were collected by questionnaire, health examination results and pulmonary function examination results taken from the Health Examination Report of Nakhonpathom Hospital in 2019. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, chi-square and Paired Sample t-test. The results revealed that:

1. The prevalence of Byssinosis was 12.00%;
2. Years of working experiences had significant occurrence of byssinosis [p<.05 (p=.016)], but not for the use of face masks;
3. Comparison of means between the first pulmonary function examination of the participants after leaving from their works for four days and the second examination after leaving from their works for one day, and between the first pulmonary function examination and the third examination after finishing their works for 6-8 hours of the participants had significant differences (p=.001 and <.0.001, respectively).

It could be suggested that the use of personal protective equipment should be improved alongside finding ways to prevent the disease and finding suitable models for providing public health services.