Workwear fabric for cement workers

• March 2021, 
• Asian Journal of Textile January-February(2021):46-51

• Shweta Saxena, 
• Durgesh raj Maurya, 
• Sangita Saini,
• M. S. Parmar

A large numbers of workers are involved in construction work. As the cement is one of the main materials used in construction, there are chances of these workers to expose dry cement and concrete (wet cement mixture of broken stone or gravel) every day without knowing its harmful effect on their health. It was found that the skin of the workers get affected due to regular with wet concrete and dry cement which ultimately result in dermatitis. This study is divided into two parts. In the first parts a survey is conducted in government as well as private organizations situated in and around Delhi using well designed questionnaire to understand the problems faced by the workers working in cement user industry and also their expectation for the work wear. The survey revealed that most of the workers are migrated from various states and average age was 35 years. They are not having suitable work wear. Most of them were having symptom of swelled eyes, respiratory and skin problems. In the second part, four fabric samples were developed keeping in mind the expectations of workers, and tested for mass, thickness, air and water vapour permeability, chemical resistance, dust resistance and durability properties. Out of four fabric samples (coded as ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’), sample ‘C’ was found to be better than others as it has lower mass, higher tear & tensile strength, lower UV exposure effect, better water vapour permeability. Other properties like air permeability, acid and alkali resistance of all the samples are found to be similar. Dust/cement resistant property of sample ‘C’ was also found better than other three fabric samples when measured at different air jet pressure.