SUMMARY
Background: Awareness of occupational hazards and its safety precautions among welders is an important health issue, especially in developing countries.Objective: To assess the awareness of occupational hazards and utilization of safety measures among welders in coastal South India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 209 welders in Puducherry, South India. Baseline characteristics, awareness of health hazards, safety measures and their availability to and utilization by the participants were assessed using a pre-tested structured questionnaire.Results: The majority of studied welders aged between 20 and 40 years (n=160, 76.6%) and had 1-10 years of education (n=181, 86.6%). They were more aware of hazards (n=174, 83.3%) than safety measures (n=134, 64.1%). The majority of studied welders utilized at least one protective measure in the preceding week (n=200, 95.7%). Many of them had more than 5 years of experience (n=175, 83.7%), however, only 20% of them had institutional training (n=40, 19.1%). Age group, education level, and utilization of safety measures were significantly associated with awareness of hazards in univariate analysis (p<0.05).Conclusion: Awareness of occupational hazards and utilization of safety measures is low among welders in coastal South India, which highlights the importance of strengthening safety regulatory services towards this group of workers.