Research survey of current welding practices in selected metal welding industries in Ghana

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Welding is essentially a repair, maintenance, manufacturing and constructional engineering activity. In the last several decades, welding has evolved as an interdisciplinary activity requiring synthesis of knowledge from various disciplines and incorporating the most advanced tools of various basic and applied sciences. This thesis discusses the current welding practices in some selected metal welding industries in Ghana. It covers, the type of training programmes for welders, categories of welding and welding techniques welders use, quality control methods employed, the type of welding processes used, welder safety issues, challenges facing welders, and welders‘ knowledge of the technology of welding in the metal joining sector of some Ghanaian industries are investigated using a questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered in two hundred (200) selected industries that practice welding in mostly the Ashanti, Greater Accra and Western regions. The survey reveals that, about eighty eight percent (87.50%) of welders do not go beyond secondary school education. The arc welding process is the most widely used (91%) welding process by industries in Ghana whilst the greatest proportion 86 (43.00%) of these industries use a combination of both arc and gas welding. Sixty-seven percent (67.00%) of welders have high level of knowledge of hazards in industry and 33.00% have low level of knowledge of hazards in industry. About fifty-seven percent (56.50%) of welders are highly prone to hazards in industry and 43.50% of welders are less prone to hazards in industry. It was also found out that sixty percent (60.00%) of welders suffer from various eye problems and about fifty-one percent (50.50%) suffer from various skin diseases likely stemming from long periods of exposure to radiations from the welding arc/flame daily in their work environment.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Keywords
Citation