Assessment of the State of Knowledge of Chemical Safety and GHS Labelling System in Zahedan Industries (Iran)

Background: The present study aims to evaluate the level of awareness of workers with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) among workers exposed to chemicals. Methods: The current study was cross-sectional which was conducted on ۸۰ industrial workers in Zahedan (Iran). Therefore, the Multiple-Choice Question (MCQ) questionnaire according to the GHS international system was used to evaluate general knowledge and the labelling status of chemical substances by designing integrated visual and theoretical questions. Descriptive statistics, and correlation coefficients were also used in data analysis. Results: The highest awareness of workers was related to explosive (۱۰۰%) and flammable (۹۶.۳%) pictograms. About ۷۲.۵% of the participants claimed to have encountered unlabeled chemical packages in their work experience. ۸۶.۳% of the workers considered the label on the package "useful to prevent accidents"; about ۳۲% reported that they had never seen "health hazard" pictogram; and about ۹۸.۸%, received the necessary training about the dangers of chemicals. Also, the results showed that there was no significant correlation between the age and work history of the participants and their level of awareness (P>۰.۰۵), but a statistically significant correlation was observed between education and gender and the level of awareness (P<۰.۰۵). Conclusions: Analysis of the current state of chemical safety labeling showed that pictograms such as GHS "health hazard" are not familiar to workers. Despite the high level of education, workers could analyse English labels at an average level. Moreover, increasing work records did not have much effect on improving people's awareness.

کلیدواژه ها:

GHS system ، Labelling ، Awareness ، Chemical safety