Investigation on Occupational Health Hazards in a Shipyard in Nantong City

Objective To assess the occupational hazards in a shipyard, and to provide protective measures.

Methods Based on a field survey, occupational hazards in the workplace of the shipyard project were detected and protection facilities and personal protection conditions were investigated. Combined with workers' occupational health examination results, current situations of occupational hazards in the shipyard were evaluated.

Results The shipyard adopted machinery automation for most processes, but parts with special specifications require manual operation, and a large proportion of workers were involved in manual operation. The key occupational hazard factors were welding dust, toxicants such as toluene and dimethylbenzene, and noise. The unqualified rates of dust (manual cutting and welding), toxic chemicals such as toluene and dimethylbenzene (manual spraying), and noise (polishing and cutting) were 15.0%, 14.0%, and 43.5%, respectively. The noise sources at welding workstation were surrounding polishing workstations. Hearing damage and routine blood abnormalities were the major health problems identified in the occupational health examination records.

Conclusion The findings indicate that most occupational hazards in shipbuilding concentrate in spraying, polishing, and cutting workstations, and field workers have severe hearing damage. Strengthening ventilation and enhancing mechanization are particularly important in controlling the occupational hazards in shipyard, which require comprehensive prevention and control measures.