I

The Negative Health Effects of Welding

among Shielded Metal Arc Welding
(SMAW) Grade 11 Students in Medina
Collage Ipil Inc.
 MEDINA COLLEGE IPIL, INC.

Don Andres, Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay

APPROVAL SHEET

This research entitled “THE NEGATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS OF WELDING

AMONG SHIELDED METAL ARC WELDING (SMAW) GRADE 11
STUDENTS IN MEDINA. COLLEGE IPIL INC S.Y. 2019-2020” prepared
and submitted by ESTENZO, CAPE, PRIMITIVA, MONERAL, ZOHAIDE,
GABUTAN, AMBALIT has been examined and is recommended for acceptance and
approval.

NADELYN D. DAWANA
ADVISER
 Chapter 1
The Problem and its Scope

Introduction

Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or

Thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool causing

Fusion. Welding also can affect to our environment it involves the potential hazards for

inhalation exposures that may lead to acute or chronic respiratory disease. Welding also can

cause pollution, as an important operation in most industries. In all types of welding process,

fume and gasses are formed as air pollutions.

According to the grade 11 students in medina colleges Ipil Inc, say that, the reason why

they took up (SMAW), it’s because welding is a career choice that does not a college degree and

they also say that, they can get a welding certificate in as little as nine months to start earning a

good living, and also, they said that they took SMAW because of the salary, which is a pretty

typical middle class, and there are also many nations need for welders. According to previous

research the growing demand for welders has caused many job seekers to consider a career in

welding for a few reasons. The welding industry offers higher than average starting pay, good

benefits and a bright future.

Welding processes involve the potential hazards for inhalation exposures that may lead to

acute or chronic respiratory diseases. Risk include asphyxiation due to dangerous inhalants,

damage to skin and eye due to ultraviolet light, chemical or electrical fires and long – term

negative effects from fumes.

Background of the Study
Welding is the most important non-demountable assembly method. The industrial use of

welding is very expensive due to the manual labour, which amounts to about 80....90% of the

production lost (Singh et al., 2011 and Ahuja, 2017). In industrialized countries, 0, 2...2% of the

labour force works in the welding field. Most of the welders work on shipyards, they build

transportation means, work in civil engineering, in the petrochemical industry, in the mining

industry and metallurgy (Shah et al., 2011). These workers are exposed to smoke and toxic gas

emitted following the welding processes, which may endanger their health. Furthermore, air

pollution due to welding leads to certain consequents on human and environment (Rawat et al.,

2014 and Akarsh et al., 2013).

Therefore, there are strong reasons to deal with the welding processes and the working

environment of the welder from different aspects (Khan, 2012). Many welders experience some

type of adverse health effects. Other workers near the place where welding processes is done way

be affected by the risks generated by it (Gilca et al., 2011). Totally, welding risks can be classified

as risks deriving from physical agents and risks related to chemical compounds. The main hazards

related to welding include electricity, radiation, heat, flames, fire, explosion, noise, welding fumes,

fuel gases, inert gases, gas mixture and solvents. Welder may be exposed to other hazards not

directly related to welding (Stepp et al., 2001).

The purpose of this study was to describe the negative health effects to grade 11 SMAW

learners in Medina College Ipil Inc. , with the total population of 15 respondents. The awareness

and inputs on their currents skills in welding this study also hopes to give ample information on

how well the SMAW students in Medina College Ipil Inc, had grasped the necessary skills in

their fields of specialization to further improve their skills and their min to aware the hazard
things in performing the welding activities and also help the school administration to make

curricular actions on the reading of the course to the learners.

Conceptual Framework

Independent variable Dependents variable

Inhalation of fumes

Eyes irritations Negative health effects of welding to

SMAW grade 11 students
Skin inflammation

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows how

These are the things that we wanted to know to the respondents so that we can know what
are the negative health effects of welding to SMAW grade 11 students.
Statement of the problem
This study aimed to describe the negative health effects of welding among shielded Metal
Arc Welding (SMAW) grade 11 students in Medina College Ipil Inc, this study sought answer to
the following question.

1. In performing welding activities, what is the SMAW student’s observation after they
inhale the fumes of the welding rod or electrode?

2. Do the SMAW students feel irritations in their eyes after performing welding activities?

3. Does the SMAW students experience any inflammation (a condition in w/c a part of
your body becomes red, swollen and painful) in their body specifically the skin after
having an hands on welding activities?

Significance of the Study

To the School Administrator. The study would be able to give inputs as to how to avoid
and know the cause and effects of welding. Relevant empirical data would also provide a looking
glass on how well the course is being taught to the grade 11 students in Medina College Ipil Inc
learners.

To the Teachers, the information that would get from the study would give them proper
attention to their students about SMAW, so that the teachers could also help in increasing the
negative effects of welding of their students not just by teaching them lessons on the subjects
they handled.

To Students. A better understanding to know how to avoid the cause and effects about
welding for them to be more cognizant about welding skills and to improve students ability to
produces higher quality welds. they could wise the result of the study to enrich their research on
welding.

To the Parents. The parents may give support and be aware of the possible benefits and
effects of being a welder student, parents might give their child extra allowance for expenses so
the students can provide their personal protective equipment for their more safeties.

To the Future Researchers. This study may be use as reference on the welding skills of
the students.
Scope of Delimitation of the Study.

Content Delimitation. This study is limited to find out the perception of the respondents regarding
to the Negative Health Effects of Welding among Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) Grade 11
Students in Medina Collage Ipil Inc. During the school year 2019-2020.

Subject Delimitation. The respondents of this study are the grade 11 SMAW students

Place Delimitation. This study is only conducted in Medina College Ipil Inc, in which is
located at Don Andres Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay.

Time Delimitation, the time duration of this study is from June 19, 2019 to October 24,
2019.

Definition of Terms

Ability to follow direction. Carefully follows written and/or verbal directions. Asks for
clarification, if necessary, adheres to safety.

Application of safety practices. Safety practices not only improve working condition but also
positively influence employees’ attitudes and behaviours with regards to safety, thereby reducing
accidents in workplace.

Evaluation. In this study, evaluation refers to grade 11 SMAW learners in Medina College Ipil
Inc, and they are ones who have welding as specialization.

Implication. Contextualizing the findings within the research that helps readers to grasp the
significances of the research.

Learners. It is someone who’s learning about a particular subject or how to do something.

SMAW. It is shielded Metal Arc Welding equipment typically consists of a constant current
welding power supply and an electrode, with an electrode holder, SMAW refers to grade 11 learners of
Medina College Ipil Inc, and they are ones who have welding as specialization.
 Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature and Studies

OVERVIEW
Field welding is welding of a material outside of a fabrication shop. Field welding typically

occurs at the bridge site. The emphasis of this synthesis is on planned field welded repairs and

retrofits where consideration was given to design, specifications procedures, qualifications and

inspection requirements considered before performing work.

EXTENT OF FIELD WELDING

There is limited literature on the extent of field welding performed on steel bridges, Only one
research

Document was found that specifically talked about the amount of field welding performed in the
bridge

Industry; NCHRP report 321 (Gregory et al. 1989) found that most states would use welding as a
repair

Method if it was proven in advance to be successful and if guidance was available on the
subjects of

inspection and quality control. They also reported that only one bridge owner claimed that they
would

never use welding for repair of cracks. According to this report, the agency’s confidence
appeared to be

the key to repair welding because “those states that did not like to weld in the field all state that it
was

impossible to obtain welding and inspection personnel of a sufficiently high standard to produce
a

sound welded repair”.

TYPES OF FIELD WELDED REPAIRS
The literature review revealed that field welded repairs are performed on structures for those
primary

reasons: fatigue improvement, capacity strengthening and corrosion and impact damage repairs
or

retrofits.

Fatigue Improvement
This typically includes retrofit of out of plane and distortion induced cracking by welding the
connection

Stiffener to the flange. In most cases, the welding is on the tension flange. Welding of the
transverse

Stiffener and cross-brace connection plates to the tension flange was avoided prior to the early to
mid-

1980s because of concerns over fatigue cracking or brittle fracture of the tension flange (Zhao
and
Roddis 2004; connor and fisher 2007). As a result, a rigid connection between the girder flange
and web-

mounted stiffener and connection plates was generally not provided. The lack of positive
connection

often resulted in cracking from out of plane distortions, as shown in figure 1, in a plane parallel
to the

primary loading stress.

Inhindsight, not welding the connection plate to the tension flange led to out of plane
cracking

of the web within the small wed gap between the wed to flange weld and termination of the
connection

plate to web fillet weld, as shown in figure 2, at present, the current AASHTO LRFD design
provisions

require that the connection plate be welded or bolted to both the compression and tension flanges
to
resist out of plane cracking. Stiffener of the wed gap by welding the connection plate to the
tension

flange is one of many common retrofit endorsements.

This retrofit strategy is simpler than a bolted retrofit; however, it requires that the
connection

plate extend completely to the tension flange. Because the connection plates were often trimmed
short

of the tension flange, another plate may berequired to be attached to the stiffener, which is then

welded to the flange. This retrofit strategy also requires that the stress ranges in the flange not
exceed

the limits given by AASHTO fatigue detail category c, which is the applicable detail category. If
present,

existing cracked welds are typically gouged out before the new welds are applied. It is important
that

finish grinding be performed after completion of welding to provide a smooth final surface. The
use of

field welding to repair out of plane and distortion induced cracking is often not recommended by
many

DOTs as a result of the expensive labor necessary to ensure good weld quality and smooth
surface

grinding, along with fear introducing another.

 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Methodology
This study used purposive sampling technique of research with the use of checklist
questionnaire for the respondents which are the Grade 11 Pearl of Medina College Ipil, Inc. The
researcher will be using purposive research method as much as it involves description, analysis
and interpretation of the existing problems.
Research Locale
This study was conducted at Medina College Ipil, incorporated at Don Andres, Ipil
Zamboanga Sibugay.
Population Sampling
The respondents of this study were the Grade 11-Pearl S.y. 2019-2020 of Medina College
Ipil, Incorporated. There are fifteen (15) Males and Zero (0) Females in this study. As of this
year.
Data Gathering Instruments
To find out the negative health effects of welding among Shielded Metal Arc Welding
(SMAW) Grade 11 students in Medina College Ipil Inc. the researcher uses questionnaires
which contains almost identical items were formulated to suit to the respondents. Using two (2)
scale as follow: Yes-2, No-1
.Data Gathering Procedure
The researchers intend to follow the procedure given below from the data-gathering of
this study. First, the researchers asked permission in a form of letter to the research
instructor/teacher, to the adviser of respondents to the teachers who currently teaching the
students at the moment and to the principal of Medina College Ipil Incorporated for us to finally
distribute the questionnaire to the class. When the permission was approved, the researcher
requested for the cooperation of the students to checking up the questionnaire, after returning the
questionnaire data were gathered for computations using statistical method will lastly. The
researchers will have data analyzation to find out what are the existing negative health effects of
welding among the respondents.
 Chapter 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Question YES NO MEAN DESCRIPTIVE

RESULT
1. Does welding affect your 15 0 2 YES
eyesight?
2. Do you experience redness in
your eyes after performing 14 1 1.93 YES
welding activities?
3. Does the ligth of the rod or its 15 0 2 YES
reflection can harm your eyes?
4. Does the welding sparks can 14 1 1.93 YES
burn your skin?
5. Does the UV radiation in
welding arc will burn your 12 3 1.8 YES
unprotective skin?
6. Does the fumes and gases
coming from welding can irritate 15 0 2 YES
your inhalation?
7. Have you experience difficult
breathing after inhaling the fumes 13 2 1.86 YES
and gases?
8. Do you experience pain in your 14 1 1.93 YES
nose due to welding smoke?
9. Do you experience headache
due to the smell of smoke from 13 2 1.86 YES
welding?
10. Have you ever experience
sleepless nights after performing 15 0 2 YES
welding activities?
Table 1. Questionnaire results about the negative health effects of welding to chosen
respondents.
Results shows that mostly of the respondents were affected with the negative effect of welding
in their own body. As shown in the table above, all of the respondents answered yes to the
questions if welding affect their eyesight, if the light of the rod harm their eyes, if fumes and
gases irritate their inhalation and if they experience sleepness night after performing the said
activities. On the other hand, some questions were answered with some no’s like if they
experience redness in the eye after performing welding activities, if welding sparks can burn
their skin, if they experienced pain in their nose due to welding smoke (only 1 answered no), if
UV radiation in welding arc will burn your skin (only 3 individuals answered no), if they
experience difficult in breathing after inhaling the fumes and gases and if they experience
headache due to the smell of smoke from welding (only 2 respondents answered no).
The mean was obtain in order to be the basis in getting the descriptive result of the study. The
following range of mean stated below are classification of the result of the study. ( 0-1.49, No)
and ( 1.5- above, Yes ).
 CONCLUSION

The result of the study indicates that doing welding clearly had negative health effects on the

said individual who will be exposed in this kind of activity. For the workers, who will be always

present or doing this kind of job or work, they must always focus on their health inorder to

survive and save money for health issues that they will be having due to the risk of the work they

had. For we all know, that health is wealth, so it is very important to focus on taking care of our

health than being careless with our self.