Complaints of Photokeratitis in Welding Informal Industry Workers in Bandung City, Indonesia

Abstract

As many as 37% of all cases of head injuries are cases of eye injuries. 1790 cases of eye injury were experienced by welders, solderers, and metal cutters, and around 1390 cases of eye injury were caused by exposure to welding sparks. Informal sector welding workers have a high risk of photokeratitis. In the informal welding industry along Jalan Bogor, Bandung City, there is an extreme level of risk. One of the extreme risks is photokeratitis caused by the welding process (UV exposure). This study uses a quantitative approach, with this type of observational research. The population in this study were workers in the informal welding sector in Jalan Bogor, Bandung City. The sample size is 60 workers obtained through the purposive sampling technique. The variable in this study was the complaint of photokeratitis. Data collection used a questionnaire with 7 questions about photokeratitis complaints. Descriptive analysis was used in this study, the data is presented in tabular form which can explain the distribution of photokeratitis complaints and the distribution of photokeratitis categories among workers. The results of this study can be concluded that the most dominant photokeratitis complaint experienced by workers is visual disturbances such as blurred vision or unclear vision with the number of workers experiencing symptoms as much as 34 or 56%. The least common symptom experienced by workers is that their eyes water a lot, only 9 workers or 15%. In the results of categorizing photokeratitis complaints, there were 60% of workers had photokeratitis complaints. Employers need to pay full attention to this case, one thing that can be done is to provide Eye Protection Equipment and adjustments to working time or duration of exposure.