Iranian Journal of Ergonomics

Introduction: Due to their long work hours at environments with poor lighting, carpet weavers are at a risk of developing certain eye diseases. Improving health conditions and safety in the workplace, in particular supplying good lighting to carpet weaving workshops as an important environmental factor, is crucial to the health of carpet weavers.

Materials and Methods: The present descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study was conducted in rural carpet weaving workshops in the city of Takab. A total of 86 carpet weaving workshops were selected through the cluster sampling method with 222 carpet weavers employed in them. General and local lighting settings were measured in carpet weaving workshops using an LX-13 photometer and the vision status of the workers was then determined through an E chart. All the data were ultimately analyzed in SPSS-16.

Results: A total of 48.6% of the carpet weavers suffered from poor vision. The workshops examined had a minimum area of 9m² and a maximum area of 56m², with interior surfaces often brightly colored. In the majority of the workshops, general lighting settings (in 82.4%) and local lighting settings (in 91.9%) were below the standard. All the carpet weaving workshops studied had windows.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that, in the majority of the workshops studied, lighting settings were both quantitatively and qualitatively undesirable and non-standard. In addition, lighting distribution was non-uniform in these workshops. Reduced lighting significantly increases the prevalence of poor vision. In order to reduce eye injuries among carpet weavers during their years of working, artificial lighting systems must be designed for and implemented in carpet weaving workshops that suit the industry standards.