Occupational respiratory morbidity among hair and beauty salon workers in Udupi taluk, Karnataka, India

• Published in: American journal of industrial medicine Vol. 63; no. 10; pp. 902 - 906
• Main Authors: Tomar, Shubhi, Tiwari, Rajnarayan R., Verma, Garima
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-10-2020
• Subjects: Allergies; Beauty salons; Chemicals; Confidence intervals; Confined spaces; Flow velocity; Hair; Health problems; India; Mechanical ventilation; Morbidity; Occupational exposure; PEFR; Protective equipment; Reproductive health; Respiratory diseases; respiratory morbidity; salon workers; Ventilation; Workers; Karnataka India; India; PEFR; respiratory morbidity; salon workers; India
• ISSN: 0271-3586; 1097-0274
• DOI: 10.1002/ajim.23171

Background
The Indian hair and beauty salon industry is growing rapidly due to the demand for beauty and personal care services and products. Workers in the industry are vulnerable to several occupational factors such as chemicals, confined space, and poor ventilation. Chemicals in the products used are known or suspected to cause allergies, respiratory, neurological and reproductive health problems and cancer.
Methods
The present study was carried out to determine the factors associated with the occurrence of respiratory morbidity among hair and beauty salon workers of Udupi taluk, Karnataka, India. A total of 240 salon workers were recruited for the study. A semistructured, interviewer‐led questionnaire was used to collect data. Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) was done using a JSB peak flow meter.
Results
The frequency of respiratory morbidity among participating beauty salon workers was 19%. Men reported respiratory symptoms more frequently than women. Receiving training on work materials and practices was a significant protective factor (odds ratio = 0.3; 95% confidence interval: 0.1‐0.7) for the occurrence of respiratory morbidity. The mean observed PEFR in these workers was significantly lower than their predicted values. While 61.2% of the workers were using some form of personal protective equipment, only 4% of workers used a mask or respiratory protection.
Conclusion
Hair and beauty salon workers are at risk of developing respiratory morbidity potentially from harmful exposures and lack of effective control measures at the workplace.