APPRAISAL OF WORK HAZARDS AND SAFETY IN THE INDUSTRIAL ESTATE OF JEDDAH

An environmental study for the appraisal of work hazards and safety in Jeddah Industrial Estate (JIE), Saudi Arabia has been conducted. The study is based upon a representative (stratified random) sample of 44 enterprises, including 52 plants and employing 5830 workers. Nearly 2/ 3 of the workers have heat exposure, orginating from climatic heat and heat dissipated from industrial operations, while exposure to noise i s slightly less, and is attributed to noisy operations and machinery a nd to lack of meticulous maintenance; both exposures are mild in most of the plants and moderate in some. Mild exposures to nonionizing radi ations (UV and IR) and to deficient illumination occur in 25% and 19.2 % of the plants studied. Respiratory exposure to chemical agents (orga nic and inorganic dusts, metal fumes, gases and vapours - including as phyxiants, irritants, liver and nervous system offenders and acid and alkali mists) occurs in 75% of the plants, particularly in the medium- size enterprises plants; however, is mainly mild with a few moderate a nd severe exposures. Skin absorption contributes to absorption of chem ical agents in 29% of the plants, and direct skin contact to chemicals (particularly to lubricating oils) occurs in 81% of the plants. Meanw hile, only eight plants, out of the 32 plants where controls for physi cal hazards are required (51.2%), apply engineering controls, and even in a few of these plants the efficiency of the control measures has b een rated 'bad'. A few of them provide personal protective equipment, and even no maintenance to this equipment is provided. The level of sa fety is better in the large plants than in the small and medium-size p lants; the safety score is the best in the recently established plants , while is the worst in the plastic industry, which is relatively old. The appraisal of fire protection is better than that of the safely, d ue to efficient supervision of the General Directorate of Civil Defens e (GDCD). However, most of the safety problems are managerial and are preventable. First aid is present in all enterprises, as required by t he Saudi Labor Laws; however, an in-plant medical service is present i n 75% of the large enterprises, in 31.,6% of the medium-size and in on ly 17.6% of the small enterprises. Also, satisfactory medical, acciden ts and absenteeism records exist in only 15.9% of the enterprises, saf ety supervision exists in 27.3, and safety education exists in 91% of them, while no environmental monitoring is carried out in any enterpri se. Sanitation facilities exist in satisfactory numbers in most of the enterprises; however, their maintenance is poor in most of them, due to lack of hygienic supervision. All enterprises dispose of their liqu id wastes into the JIE sewerage system without any treatment, while th e solid wastes are collected by the city authorities in 56.8% of them; both wastes are anticipated to cause environmental pollution problems .