The textile processing industry is a very wide sector, consisting in a series of work stages, aimed at the processing of raw materials (natural, artificial or synthetic fibres), for the manufacturing of products, with various properties and characteristics.
In the last decades, then, the sphere of the utilization of textile products has been considerably extended to innovative applications, ranging from medical and surgical to pharmaceutical, cosmetic and antipollution fields, alongside the classical sectors of clothing and furnishing. We can also observe that the textiles utilized in these latter applications are made not only from new synthetic polymers but also from natural fibres, such as wool or silk, properly modified (1). In any case, every activity or productive cycle of textile industry is made up by a battery of work phases, with particular exposures and potential hazards for workers. At the same time, however, some risk factors are common to every work profile of the sector.
Select theme