Assessment of occupational safety, hazards and related health problems among quarry workers at work places in India.

 

Mrs. Ponnambily Jobin¹*, Ms. Angel Sudha Veparala¹, Mrs. Anmery Varghese¹,

Mrs. Aparnna T Jose¹, Ms. K. Imnainla Walling¹, Dr. Prof. (Mrs)Vathsala Sadan²

¹PG Students, Community Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College,  Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

²Professor, Community Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College,  Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

 

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: As quarry site is the dangerous place to work in and quarry workers are more likely to be killed in accidents at any time. Therefore, the investigators tried to assess the occupational safety, hazards and related health problems among the quarry workers at work places in India.

Methodology: A cross sectional survey approach was used. The study was conducted in two quarry work sites in Vellore district. The study population consisted of all 72 quarry workers, who worked in the two quarry sites and the investigators selected the subjects by using convenient sampling method. The check list consisted of demographic data and 30 items, which covers the dimensions of occupational safety, hazards and  related health problems among the quarry workers. Data collection was done for a period of two weeks.

Results:  It was showed that the majority of the quarry workers 52.8% were between the age group of 18-45 years. Among them, 76.3%  of the quarry workers were males and 23.7% of them were females. It was observed that none of them were using any of the personal protective equipments, fist aid boxes were not available and there was no ambulance facility available within 10 kms of diameter. The quarry workers were not covered under any health insurance schemes and were not trained for quarry work such as machine operation, first aid treatment and safety measures. The majority of the workers had frequent respiratory tract infection(88.8%), back ache (65.2%), joint pain (48.8%) and sinusitis (26.3%). Regarding vision and hearing acuity, 12.5% of them had reduced visual acuity and 15.3% of them had negative Weber and Rinne test too.

Conclusion: The study results make an urgent call on authority for job redesigning, scheduling policies, implementation of strict rules and regulations, health protection programmes and insurance schemes for workers who are involved in dangerous work places such as construction sites, quarry, mining and nuclear power plants.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

The promotion and maintenance of health among the workers in various occupations by prevention, control of risk factors and adaptation of work to people and people to their work is known as occupational health. The workers in occupation are  prone to get work related diseases such as injuries, air born exposures like asbestosis, carcinogens, noise and ergonomic stressors because of continuous exposure for more than eight hours per day². Some studies showed that work related diseases are more in construction sites³, mining⁴, nuclear power plant workers⁵, fire fighters⁶ and health care professionals⁷. The studies have associated the type of occupation and related diseases such as risk for injury among construction workers ³, fatigue related accidents in nuclear power plants ⁸ and cardiovascular disorders in manufacturing companies ⁹.

 

Quarrying is the dangerous place to work in and they are more likely to be killed in accidents at any time ¹⁰. Using of large earth moving vehicles, explosives, machineries, working on top of the rocks increase the risk of accidents, occupational diseases and fall from heights. They are at risk of other hazards such as noise, vibration and dust which leads to deafness,  Raynaud's  diseases, cancer and  respiratory disorders. The associated hazards and health related risk factors are; injuries and hand arm vibration associated with vehicle and machinery operations, slips and falls from the top of the rocks ¹¹, exposure to dust containing silica causes silicosis, lung cancer and tuberculosis ¹², excessive noise leads to deafness ¹³ , adverse weather conditions and working in high altitude causes UV exposure related skin cancers ¹⁴ and sun stroke ¹⁵. A study conducted on effect of quarrying activities among quarry workers in Kenya showed that apart from injuries, health related harms are skin abrasion, generalized body pain, sinusitis, back pain and hearing loss ¹⁶. A study conducted regarding impact of working hours on health in United States recommended for job redesign, scheduling practices, health protection programmes and insurance schemes for workers who are involved in overtime and extended working hours¹⁷. An overview of the occupational health hazards at quarry are: physical hazards (traumatic injury, fatal heat stroke, noise induced hearing loss, spinal disorders, cataracts), chemical hazards (silicosis, pneumoconiosis, lung cancer, carbon disulphide toxicity, mercury toxicity), psychosocial hazards (post traumatic disorders, alcoholism), biological hazards( tuberculosis, leptospirosis) and ergonomic hazards (fatigue and sleep disorders)¹⁸. All these study results reveal an urgent call to focus on quarry workers, those are working in most dangerous occupational sites in different parts of the world. Here, investigators tried to assess the occupational safety, hazards and  related health problems among quarry workers at work places in India.

 

OBJECTIVES:

·       To assess the demographic variables of the quarry workers

·       To assess the occupational safety among the quarry workers

·       To assess the potential hazards among the quarry workers

·       To assess the health related problems among the quarry workers

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A quantitative approach using descriptive design was used to assess the occupational safety, hazards and  related health problems among quarry workers at work places in India.. A cross sectional survey approach was used. The study was conducted in two quarry work sites in Vellore district. The study population consisted of all 72 workers, who worked in the two quarry sites and the investigators selected the subjects by using convenient sampling method.  The check list was developed by investigators, which was verified by experts from Community Health nursing Department, College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore. It consisted of demographic data and 30 items which covers the dimensions of occupational safety, hazards and  related health problems among quarry workers. Data collection was done for a period of two week. The investigators explained the purpose of the study to study subjects. Informed written consent was obtained. The investigators collected the data regarding demographic data and medical history and the quarry workers were screened to identify the health related problems by checking vital parameters and physical examination. The equipments used for the study were class 1 weighing scale, clinical thermometer, non elastic measuring tape, mercury sphygmomanometer, glucometer, Snellen's chart, reflex hammers and tuning fork. The electronic equipments were standardised using reference norms prior to data collection and calibrated periodically. In the present study, BMI below 25.0 kg/m² considered as normal  and 25.0-29.0 kg/m² as overweight ¹⁹ and waist circumference cut off points for males was 90 cm and females was 85cm ²⁰. The normal body temperature was considered as 97 degrees F to 99.8 degrees F ²¹, pulse rate 60-100 beats per minute and respiration 12-16 breaths per minute ²². The investigators measured the blood pressure using <140/90 mmHg as normal range ²³. The cut off for accepted plasma glucose (FPG) level is <126 mg/dl ²⁴. The interpretation of Snellen's chart as normal visual acuity (20/20) and reduced visual acuity ²⁵ and Weber test and Rinne test as positive (normal) and negative ²⁶. The confidentiality and anonymity were maintained throughout the study. The collected data were analyzed, tabulated using Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (19.0) using descriptive statistics such as percentage, mean, average and standard deviation.

 

RESULTS:

The first objective of the study was to assess the demographic variables of quarry workers. It is showed that the majority of the quarry workers 52.8% were between 18-45 years of age. Among them, 76.3%  of the quarry workers were males and 23.7% of them were females. It is seen that 76.4 % of them were literates and 23.6% were illiterates. Majority of them 61.2%  were working in quarry  for more than 5 years and the type of work was stone cutter, stone lifter, machine operator and driver were 38.8%, 29.1%, 18.5% and 16.6% respectively as shown in the Table 1.

Table 1

Distribution of demographic variables of quarry workers     (n=72)

SL.No.	Demographic variable	n	%
1	Age 15-18 years 18-45 years 45-65 years >65 years	4 38 23 7	5.5 52.8 31.9 9.8
2	Sex Male Female	55 17	76.3 23.7
3	Education Illiterate Literate	17 55	23.7 76.3
4	Monthly income <5000 5000-10000	19 53	26.4 73.6
5	Years of work <5 years 5-10 years >10 years	28 33 11	38.8 45.9 15.3
6	Type of work Stone cutter Stone lifter Machine operator Driver	28 21 12 10	38.8 29.1 18.5 16.6

 

The second objective of the study was to assess the occupational safety among quarry workers. It was observed that none of them were using any of the personal protective equipments, first aid boxes were not available and there was no ambulance facility available within 10 kms of diameter. The quarry workers were not covered under any health insurance schemes and were not trained for quarry work such as machine operation, first aid treatment and safety measures.  

 

The third objective of the study was to assess the potential hazards among the quarry workers. Based on the observation, investigators classified the ergonomic hazards in to three types such as manmade, manual and natural hazards. Man made hazards are use of earth moving vehicles, machineries, explosives; manual hazards are accidental fall from height and injury due to improper handling of machines and natural hazards are slips of rocks, noise, adverse weather conditions and potential earth quakes.

 

The fourth objective was to assess the health related problems among quarry workers. It is noticed that 8.3%, 12.5% and 2.7% of workers were diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, hypertension and tuberculosis respectively. Among the quarry workers, 27.7% of them were pan chewers, 70.8% were alcoholics and 68.1% were smokers. The majority of the workers had frequent respiratory tract infection(88.8%), spinal ache (65.2%), Joint pain (48.8%) and sinusitis (26.3%) as shown in the figure 1.

Regarding vital parameters, 88.8% of them had low temperature <97 degree F and 11.2% of them had between 97-99.8 degree F temperature; all of them had pulse rate in normal range (60-100 beats per minute); 69.4% of them had respiration rate between 12-16 breaths per minute and 30.6% of them had >17 breaths per minute; 66.6% of them had blood pressure in normal range (<140/90 mm Hg) and 33.4% of them had more than 140/90 mmHg; 77.7% of them had fasting blood sugar <126 mg/dl and 22.3% of them had >126 mg/dl; 87.5% of them had normal BMI and 12.5% of them were over weighed and  all of them had normal waist circumference. Regarding vision and hearing acuity, 87.5% of them had normal acuity and 84.7% of them had Weber and Rinne test positive.

 

DISCUSSION:

In the present study, the majority of the quarry workers 52.8% were between 18-45 years of age. Among them, 76.3%  of the quarry workers were males and 23.7% of them were females. It is seen that 76.4% of them were literates and 23.6% were illiterates. Similarly, a study conducted in Nigeria among quarry workers showed that majority (90.5%) of them between 15-44 years of age and 56.7% of them had primary level of education ²⁷. It was observed in the current study that none of them were using personal protective equipment, in contrast, 89.2% of the quarry workers in Nigeria were using at least one safety protective device at work²⁷ .

 

Based on the observation, investigators classified the ergonomic hazards in to three types such as manmade, manual and natural hazards, whereas, in another study, investigator classified the hazards in to physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial and ergonomic hazards ¹⁸. In the present study, the majority of the workers had frequent respiratory tract infection (88.8%), spinal ache (65.2%), joint pain (48.8%) and sinusitis (26.3%), similarly, most of them had tuberculosis, chest pain, back pain and cough ²⁸. It is reported in the present study that  87.5% of them had normal BMI and 12.5% of them were over weighed, in contrast, average BMI of miners was 19.7 kg m² and 38% of them were malnourished ²⁸. Regarding vision and hearing acuity, 12.5% of them had reduced visual acuity and 15.3% of them had Weber and Rinne test negative, likewise, some of the miners reported about low vision and hearing loss in a study conducted in Rajastan, India ²⁸.

 

CONCLUSION:

To conclude, the study results make an urgent call on authority for job redesigning, scheduling policies, implementation of strict rules and regulations, health protection programmes and insurance schemes for workers who are involved in dangerous work places to prevent mortality and morbidity among them.

 

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Received on 14.07.2016          Modified on 20.10.2016

Accepted on 04.01.2017         © A&V Publications all right reserved