The health of welders in naval dockyards: welding, tobacco smoking and absence attributed to respiratory diseases.

Abstract

The relationship between absence attributed to respiratory disease, exposure to welding and smoking habits of three groups of craftsmen in three naval dockyards has been examined over a 5-year period. The men studied were welders, shipwrights and boilermakers intermittently exposed to welding pollutants as neighbourhood workers, and joiners, painters and electrical fitters rarely if ever so exposed. In comparison with the other two groups of men, a higher proportion of welders could be classified as smokers and a lower proportion as non-smokers. Welders who are or have been smokers are found to have higher absence indices. Welders who have never smoked have lower absence indices compared with non-smokers in the other two groups. The presence of welding pollutants in the working environment may prompt welders with respiratory symptoms to take absence although the cause of these symptoms may be unrelated to work.