The level of awareness of health risks among motor vehicle sprayers

Abstract

A survey was carried out among 100 spray painters to evaluate the level of awareness of health risks among motor vehicle sprayers. The survey was carried out by means of a questionnaire, which was in Maltese to enable optimum communication. During the survey various garages in different localities were visited, having been selected at random from the Yell ow Pages 1999 and other advertising material. The results obtained showed that motor vehicle sprayers lack information about health hazards that are encountered due to the spray painting products they use. One third of the participants do not know which is inadequate type of mask that should be worn although they regularly use one. Many of the participants eat at the work place, do not use any other protective equipment apart from a mask, and do not consider the noise levels encountered at their work place as a health hazard. Among the participants there were 36% who could not read in English, who might therefore have a problem in understanding the available technical literature, which outlines the hazards, and precautions, which need to be taken. Not all the motor vehicle sprayers are registered with the Employment Training Corporation, which could be a problem when it comes to launching education campaigns. Occupational health campaigns, promotional material and seminars can improve health awareness among motor vehicle sprayers. Subsidies on safety equipment could be introduced to help spray painters create a safer and healthier place of work.