LAUSR

A descriptive cross-sectional survey was done from January to June 2018 in welding shops of Rawalpindi city, Pakistan. The objectives of the study were to determine the frequency of topical ocular anesthetic use among welders and to assess the knowledge and practices of welders regarding safety measures. One hundred and fifty-eight welders from age group of 20 years and above, having welding work experience of more than one year, were included in the study. The sampling strategy was non-random convenient sampling. A pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Topical ocular anesthetic use among welders was found to be 45.6%. Statistically significant association was found between knowledge and practices of welders regarding their safety measures (p<0.05). On binary logistic regression, work experience was found to be the strongest predictor of good knowledge (OR = 4.15, 95% CI = 1.45 - 12.15) and practices (OR=10.46 95% CI = 2.92 - 37.51). Key Words: Welder, Topical anesthetic abuse, Knowledge, Practices, Perceptions.