Occupational Exposures and Health Profile among Workers in an Egyptian Printing Press

Background: Printing workers are at risk of several occupational exposures due to their job nature and their awareness of these hazards is important so that they can protect themselves. Objective: The current study aimed at comparing the health status of the printing workers with that of administrative department employees and to describe the knowledge of printing press workers about different exposures. Method: 171 printing workers and 175 administrative staff were recruited from an Egyptian press company in Cairo. An interview questionnaire was used including data on socioeconomic, occupational characteristics of the study population; questions about their awareness of different exposures; assessment of the worker's health through asking about various symptoms of different systems were also included. Results: The percentage of workers perceiving their working environment as dangerous was significantly higher than that of the administrative group. Most of the workers reported exposure to chemicals affecting the respiratory system (50.9%) followed by exposure to chemicals affecting the skin (33.3%). On the other hand, administrative workers reported spending long time working in one position (47.4%). The percentage of workers was significantly higher than that of administrative staff reporting eye irritation, hearing impairment, tinnitus, tremors, backache, numbness, dyspnea, chronic cough and skin inflammatory symptoms. Percent of administrative staff reporting neck pain was of higher than printing workers but without statistical significance. Conclusion & Recommendation: Printing press workers are exposed to various occupational hazards in their work environment which adversely affect their health status. Workers in printing industry need to be targeted by awareness programs to help them understand the types of occupational exposures they may experience and how to protect themselves from such exposures.