Assessing the wayside welders’ application of safety measures in welding a case study of Jaman North District

Abstract

Safety is a critical consideration for any welding project. Application of safety measures and practices among welders are important ways of preventing or reducing the levels of health hazards associated with the occupation. While adherence to these precautions is nearly applied in the industrial welding, for the non-industrial welding in which wayside welders are the focus, little information is known of them. The purpose of the study was to assess wayside welders‟ application of safety measures in welding. The research used the qualitative research design on 57 wayside welders in the Jaman North District sampled by the snowball non-probability method. A pretested structured interview guide was used to collect data which was entered and analysed using the Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS, version 25) software. The results showed that all the respondents were males. A majority (94.7%) of welders were aware of safety measures with only 5.3% who were not aware. Again, safety measures adopted by wayside welders included the use of PPEs, good housekeeping and safe working procedures. Welders did not use the recommended PPES to protect themselves while working. They rather used ordinary sunglasses and did not protect their ears, eyes, nose and feet while working. The most adopted and applied safety measure by the welders were the use of PPES, good housekeeping and safe working procedures. It was concluded that welders‟ awareness of safety measures did not translate into their use to provide safety among welders. This calls for concern and need for more preventive measures within this occupational group to avoid injuries and illness through government and non-governmental interventions.