Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Community Medicine

Aim: To reduce injuries and illnesses incidence from using hazardous materialsin Block-10 oil field among all workers. This is through identifying the extent at which the WHMIS has been applied in the targeted oil and gas field by both TEPYrepresenting the international company and the Contractors who represent the local companies. Study design and Methods: Analytic cross sectional study.Flow charts, web-based self-administered questionnaire, checklists to assess training and existence of the essential standards, company{u2019}s documentsreview, and in-depth interview were used. A convenient sample of workers who were dealing with hazardous materials in TEPY; 110, and Contractors; 83. Results: The study Contractors{u2019} workers were the younger, the less educated, with less experience, more exposed to hazardous materials (78.3%), more assigned to the most hazardous sites. Half of Contractors were able to identify the hazards pictograms in compare to three-quarter of TEPY.50.6% of Contractors in compare to 85.5% of TEPY were keen to read the SDS. English difficulty was the reason for avoiding labels & SDS. Only 43% of Contractors received training in compare to 64% of TEPY{u2019}s. Only 38.6% of Contractors received regular medical examination in compare to 87.3% of TEPY. Contractors (59%) were more exposedto injury related to hazardous materials in compare to of TEPY (40%). Produced hazardous materials on-site were not included in WHMIS. Conclusion: Effectiveness indicators couldn{u2019}t reflect the real situation. Inequityrevealed that Contractors{u2019} workers were less in training, knowledge,medical examinations, and being more in injuries. English language was the reason to avoid labels & SDS.Uncompleted documents and missing of critical information. Recommendation: WHMIS effectiveness should have suitable methods for effectiveness evaluation (e.g. biomonitoring, air and dermal monitoring, illnesses and injuries accurate reporting system, and specific medical examination), equity between TEPY and Contractors in the means of training, regular medical examinations, and English courses, as well as having Arabic language SDS and labels, completed WHMIS documents, and including produced hazardous materials in the WHMIS

Issued also as CD