Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STUDIES ON PERFORMANCE OF FINGER COATS, MEDICAL GLOVES AND SURGICAL GLOVES ON WOMEN WORKERS FOR FISH DRESSING OPERATION IN SEAFOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES

A.U. Pagarkar, S.M. Shaikh, V.V. Aware, N.A. Shirsat and S.V. Patil

Abstract

Fish and fish based products have a reputation of being the most internationally traded commodity. The fisheries sector is a powerful income and employment generator for maritime nations. In fish processing industry the workers use small sharp knife, their hands come in contact with different sharp body parts of fishes, temperature of work environment and frequent contact with ice cold and chlorinated water. Use of such small hand tools and manual work often exposes workers to frequent minor injuries, which in long term may be harmful. To prevent these problems, three different types of hand protection devices viz., finger coats, medical examination and sterile surgical gloves were selected to test the performance suitability during fish dressing operation. Women workers after providing sterile surgical gloves showed better capacity 36.7 kg/hr as compared to other hand protection devices i.e. finger coats, (31.8 kg/hr) and medical examination gloves (34.45 kg/hr). Surgical gloves well suited for hands, good grip, easy to handle fish during dressing operation. In order to protect the hand from ice and cold water, injuries and peeling of hand, surgical gloves are recommended as a first line of defense.