About the hazards of working in wool and silk industries
Answers
Some raw wools are imported from countries where anthrax is still prevalent. All wools have to be sorted or graded before they are cleaned in water or solvents. So wool sorters are in danger of contracting anthrax, which is often fatal, through breathing in airborne dust from the wool. To counter this risk, correct working environment involves working on a grid table with sealed-in fans drawing room air down through the wool on the table and venting it out of doors via dust filters in a closed system, so that no air that has been in contact with the fleece will enter the mouths or noses of the sorters. In the bad old days before ventilation, anthrax was simply called “wool sorters’ disease”.
Many work actions in textile industries are not heavy, but extremely repetitive. This creates risks for RSI or Repetitive Strain Injuries which can be both painful and debilitating.
Many textile machines have high noise levels, necessitating good hearing protection and availability of quiet rest areas for breaks. Western factories are usually OK in this respect, but the less developed countries with low-paid workers who ship all that cheap textile merchandise to our stores are not so careful of the health or their staff.
The biggest hazard with working in wool industry is a disease name anthrax which is usually associated with wool sorters. This leads to a lot a deaths every year.The most common health and safety hazards identified in the wool shed that can affect you are: sprains and strains, wrist and back problems, cuts and bruising, fatigue and dehydration. Some more serious health hazards are: wool based infections, giardia, leptospirosis, hepatitis, tetanus, dermatitis and noise.
The Heath hazard related to silk Industry is Heat stress which can cause heat stroke, exhaustion, cramps, and rashes. The workers of sericulture industry often develop respiratory problems like asthma ,chronic bronchitis and difficulty in breathing due the liberation of allergy causatives during the development of silkworm.
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