Identification of shoe manufacturing companies in the city of Sfax (Tunisia)

Introduction. In Sfax, the second largest city of Tunisia, shoe manufacturing leads to a large consumption of glues, thinners and strippers containing organic solvents. Thus, the objective of this study was to identify the leather shoes manufacturing companies and better understand the manufacturing process and related exposure to organic solvents with the aim to estimate the chemical risks caused by the use of these solvents. Material and methods. During the first half of 2005, the authors located 103 leather shoes manufacturing companies based on lists offered by the regional chamber of commerce and Sfax regional center of leathers and shoes. This list was complemented by on-site research in four industrial zones and in the old city of Sfax via a questionnaire in order: (1) to specify the manufacturing process (industrial, semi-industrialized or manual); (2) to draw up a qualitative and quantitative inventory of handled substances; (3) to define the various types of populations concerned according to their activities and the exposure to solvents and/or glues; (4) to describe the general quality of air and ventilation in these companies. Results. Only 92 companies approved a final participation: 26 industrial companies, six semi-industrial and 60 manual. The solvents and glues most commonly used were ketones, halogenated solvents, hardeners, thinners and neoprene and polyurethane glues. Whatever the manufacturing process, 84.5% of the employees were exposed to solvents and/or to glues. The manual and semi-industrialized companies are located in residential areas, respectively 96.7% (exclusively in the old city) and 83.3%. The areas of the footwear craft workshops were the smallest with an average of 86 m(2) [min = 8, max = 100] among which 22 have an area of less than 25 m(2). Natural ventilation remains the main means of ventilation of the premises whatever the manufacturing process and the proposal of personal protective equipment to the employees remains insufficient. Discussion and conclusion. The main difficulty encountered was the identification of companies with partly industrialized and manual process. The semi-industrialized companies are of the manual type but operating on a large scale with some mechanization and the majority of their employees are paid according to their daily production. Companies with manual process followed by the semi-industrialized seem to present the highest chemical risks, hypothesis which will be verified through a model of chemical risk evaluation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.