Occupational health education and collaboration for reducing the risk of lead poisoning of workers in a battery manufacturing plant in Thailand

Abstract

We provided occupational health education as training to all workers (N=31) and managers, and collaborated with them against reducing the risk of lead poisoning of workers at an assembly section in a battery manufacturing plant in Bangkok, Thailand in 2002. After occupational health education, many workers (80.6-100.0%) noticed and understood the toxicity of lead and the importance of protection against it. Many workers regularly wore long sleeved shirt and trousers, and used the appropriate mask all day long. They changed the attitude toward their work and improved personal hygiene, for example no smoking in the workplace, washing their hands by a detergent before drinking water or having lunch, and taking a bath after the work. They especially took off working clothes at an office outside the workplace and washed them everyday. The average blood lead level of the workers significantly (P=0.002) reduced from 32.7 μg/dl to 22.4 μg/dl, although airborne lead level in the workplace remained unchanged with before conditions. From these results occupational health education and collaboration between workers and managers were effective tools to reduce the risk of lead poisoning of workers in a battery manufacturing plant.