Condiciones de seguridad en calderas de vapor de empresas afiliadas a una administradora de riesgos profesionales en Antioquia, 2009

objective: to determine the safety conditions of steam boilers in companies associated with a professional risk administration company in antioquia, colombia. to this end, their operation conditions shall be characterized, the associated risks identified, and their safety level assessed. methodology: a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in twenty companies whose production processes involve boilers. a survey on the conditions for operation was applied on both the maintenance managers and the boilers operators in each company. a hazard risk assessment matrix was made as instructed in the gtc-45 colombian technical guide, and an assessment instrument was applied to determine the safety level for each boiler. results: 70% of the assessed boilers obtained a low score (less than 65 points) according to the scale, which has been validated by experts; the remaining boilers obtained an acceptable score (66 to 81 points) . it was also found that 85% of the boilers had no operating instructions, and 60% of them did not have any kind of alarm. conclusions: the studied boilers had poor security conditions, mainly related to the absence of operation protocols, boiler operator training, and poor supervision by competent authorities.