Source: International Journal of
Occupational Safety and Ergonomics (JOSE)
This paper reviews the role and
importance of small-scale industries together with the issue of occupational
health problems and their causes in Iranian hand-woven carpet industry as a
typical informal small-scale industry in an industrially developing country.
The objective of this paper is to review health risk factors and related
occupational health and ergonomic problems in the carpet industry. Since the
overwhelming majority of weavers' health problems originate from ergonomic risk
factors, it is concluded that any improvement program in this industry should
focus on ergonomic aspects. To assess ergonomic conditions in weaving
workshops, a checklist has been developed and an ergonomics index indicating
the ergonomic conditions of the workshop has been proposed. To test and verify
the checklist, 50 weaving workshops were visited and their ergonomic conditions
were assessed. Based on the results some modifications were made and the
checklist was shown to be an effective tool.
1. Introduction
Small-scale industries are a widespread, fundamental and essential form of production [1]. In many countries,
small-scale industries are the main providers of new employment. In addition, these
industries play an outstanding part in economic development of countries by producing export products.
In developing countries, great
efforts are directed towards encouraging the development of small-scale
industries as the engine for the growth of their economies [2]. In
these countries, small-scale industries employ a high percentage of the work
force and comprise a high percentage of all industries. Small-scale industries
have been estimated to employ 45-95% of the work force in developing countries [3].
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About the Authors
Alireza Choobineh and Mohammadali
Lahmi are
associated with School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research,
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Teheran, I.R. Iran and Houshang
Shahnavaz is associated with Division of Industrial Ergonomics, Lulea
University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden
