الفهرس 
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Abstract
Industrialization is necessary for prosperity and at times for the survival of the nation. The production is the real wealth of a nation. Only initialization is not enough, the real benefit is brought by continuous top performance of the workers, which is only possible by their good health.
Occupational health practice seeks to ensure healthy working people to enable workers to be productive and have a strong economy. It is socially and economically unacceptable for work to cause death and disease. For industry, workers in poor health mean more frequent absenteeism, increased disability, more accidents and sub-optimal productivity.
As defined by Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA), an “occupational illness” means a condition that results from exposure in a workplace to a physical, chemical or biological agent to the extent that the normal physiological mechanisms are affected and the health of the worker is impaired .
Occupational illness constitutes a major problem nationally and globally. In (2014) in the United States, and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases, resulting in a loss of 150 workers each day from hazardous working conditions. In Egypt, CAPMAS puts the total number of work-related illness in 2011 at 17,182 out of a total active labour force of some 23.3 million workers that year.
Textile industry workers are exposed to various hazards in the different sections as dust, noise, chemicals inhalation, etc. These hazards have serious impacts on the workers’ health as they spend about one third of their time in the workplace. The health of the workers not only influenced by occupational hazards but also compounded by various socioeconomic factors such as poverty, lack of education, poor working conditions, excess working hours, and poor diet.
Hence, the aims of the present study are to determine the prevalence of occupational health problems among workers in El–Beheira Textile Companies and to identify the determinants of occupational health problems among workers in El-Beheira Textile Companies.
A cross sectional descriptive design was adopted to carry out this study. The study was carried out in all textile companies of El-Beheira governorate.
The present study sample included a total of 603 textile workers who have experience of not less than 6 months and who were 18 years and older were selected by using systematic random sampling (using workers lists) from the different selected companies using proportional allocation technique for companies and from each section within the same company.
Tools for data collection
Three tools were used by the researcher in order to collect the necessary data from the workers. Tool (I): Textile Companies’ workers health profile: It included four parts: Part I: it was used to assess personal data of the textile workers. Part II: it was used to assess the occupational data. Part III: it was used to assess the life style. Part IV: it was used to assess worker’s health status. Tool (II) Safety and health at work observational checklist: it was used to assess the occupational health hazards. In addition, tool (III): Workplace stress scale used to assess job stress levels. The tools were tested for validity and reliability.
An official letters directed from the faculty of nursing to secure approval of responsible authorities of the companies and for explanation of the purpose of the study. The sample was selected by systematic random sampling (using workers lists) from the different selected companies using the proportional allocation technique for companies and from each section within the same company. A written consent was obtained from those subjects. A structured interview schedule and observation were designed based on recent relevant literature. Pilot study carried out on 60 workers out of the original sample. Validity testing was done by five experts in the field. Cronbach’s Alpha Test of reliability for tool II (health and safety at work observational checklist) was r = 0.741, and for tool III (workplace stress scale), was r = 0.854.Datat collection carried out during the period from (May 2016 to October 2016) and then data were coded ,fed to PC and analyzed using statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20 ,descriptive measures, Fisher Exact Test using Mont Carlo exact probability (MCP), chi square test (X2), and logistic regression analysis was also used.
The main results of this study composed of the following:
Part (I): Textile Companies Workers Health Profile
Personal data
The workers age ranged from 25-58 years old with a mean age 46.7 ± 6.5.
Less than two third of the textile workers (60.4 %) aged from 40<50 years, while 6 % of them aged from 25 <30.
More than one third of the textile workers (39.1%) had primary education and 6.1% were illiterate.
The vast majority of the textile workers were married (99.33%).
The majority (92.4 %) of the workers hadn’t enough income and only 7.6% had enough income.
More than two third (69.5 %) of the textile workers were living in rural areas and the rest of them were living in urban areas.
The majority (98.7 %) of the textile workers were living in crowded houses.
Occupational data
Nearly half of the textile workers (47.8%) had more than 30 years of experience, while the mean was 27.2 ± 6.6 years.
The majority (94.7%) of the textile workers were working 8hrs / day. With the mean working hours was 7.95 ± 0.22 hrs.
One third (34.0%) of the textile workers were absent during the last 6 months. the majority of them (62.9%) were absent due to social reasons and the rest of them due to sickness reasons .
None of the textile workers either attend or participate in training programs.
All textile workers reported that personal protective equipment weren’t available at their workplace.
Less than half of the workers (41.3%) had occupational injuries within the last 6 months. About two thirds (63.8%) of the injuries were wounds, the upper extremity was the commonest affected body part.
Life style
All workers didn’t practice exercise.
More than three fourth (78.8%) of the textile workers were smokers.
All workers didn’t perform periodic medical checkup.
Worker’s health status
With respect to the reported respiratory problems, the current findings revealed that the prevalence of respiratory problems was 83.3 %. The most common respiratory complain reported by the textile workers was cough (94.6%) followed by chest tightness (59.8%), dyspnea (57.2%), and allergic rhinitis 52.6 %.
In relation to musculoskeletal problems, the present study showed that the prevalence was 100%. The commonest musculoskeletal complaint reported by the textile workers was low back pain (77.6%) followed by hand/wrist pain (61.8 %), and shoulder pain (46.7%).
The prevalence of auditory problems was (28.2 %). Difficulty in hearing was the most prevalent complaint reported by the textile workers (71.8 %).
The prevalence of dermatological problems was 55.7 %.The most common dermatological complaint reported by the textile workers was skin dryness 100.0 %.
The prevalence of visual problems was 71.1%.The majority of the textile workers had blurred vision (91.1%).
The prevalence of neurological problems was 86.7% .Headache was the most common complaints reported by the textile workers (69.4 %).
With respect to circulatory problems, more than half (57.2%) of the textile workers had varicose veins.
Nearly two fifth (41. 5%) of the textile workers had gastrointestinal tract problems.
Nearly equal percentages (46.1%, 46.9%) of the textile workers were obese and overweight respectively.
Part (II): Occupational Hazards
Less than half of the polyester staple fiber workers (45.8%), more than two third of the spinners (72.0 %), more than half of the weavers (62.0%) and more than three fourth of the dyers (78.8%) had exposure to severe occupational hazard.
Part (III): Workplace stress level
Less than half of the textile workers had severe stress (41.5%).One third of the textile workers had very severe stress, while the rest of the workers had moderate stress and low stress respectively (21.9%, 3.1%).
Part (V): Determinants of occupational health problems
The multi regression analysis revealed that there were significant associations between income, weaving department, years of experience, smoking, sleeping problems and auditory problems.
Regarding respiratory problems, the results illustrated that there were significant relation between residence, income, crowding index, spinning department, years of experience, smoking and respiratory problems.
Concerning musculoskeletal problems, the results showed that there were significant relation between age, education and musculoskeletal problems.
Regarding visual problems, the results demonstrated that age and smoking were significantly associated with visual problems.
With respect to neurological problems, the results illustrated that there was significant association between age, education, years of experience, smoking and neurological problems.
Lastly the present study proved that there was significant association between age, smoking, stress and circulatory problems.
Based on the results of the current study, it has been concluded that:
The workers engaged in different sections of the textile industry are exposed to different sets of compounds produced as a result of different industrial processes which are responsible for various health related problems in textile industry workers. The present study revealed that the musculoskeletal problems were the commonest, followed by neurological problems, respiratory problems, visual problems, circulatory problems, dermatological problems, digestive problems, auditory problems. With respect to the determinants of health problems, regarding respiratory problems, the results illustrated that there were significant relation between residence, income, crowding index, spinning department, years of experience, smoking and respiratory problems. Concerning musculoskeletal problems, the results showed that there were significant relation between age, education and musculoskeletal problems. Regarding visual problems, the results demonstrated that age and smoking were significantly associated with visual problems. With respect to neurological problems, the results illustrated that there was significant association between age, education, years of experience, smoking and neurological problems. Lastly the present study proved that there was significant association between age, smoking, stress and circulatory problems.
Based on the findings in this study, the following recommendation could be made:
If possible, the factory should look into the possibility of replacing the old machines with new ones, which is less noisy.
Training and health education programs should be provided to all workers from the start of work to enhance the awareness of the workers regarding the risk factors and methods of prevention of occupational hazards in textile industry.
Personal protective equipment must be provided for all workers.
Work stations and equipment should be properly designed to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders.
There should be proper lighting at the place of work so that eye strain can be avoided.
There should be proper ventilation at the place of work.
Future studies
1. Develop and implement health education programs to workers in textile industry about methods of protection from occupational hazards.
2. Assessing the knowledge of textile workers about occupational health hazards.
3. Attitude of textile workers toward wearing personal protective equipment.