International Journal of Occupational Safety and Health (nepjol.info)
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Occupational risk assessment and selected morbidities among cement brick unit workers in a rural area of Bangalore District, India
Get PDFIntroduction: The labor-intensive nature of cement brick manufacturing, its unorganized nature and internal migration, expose the employees to several occupational health hazards. The objective of the study was to assess the occupational risks in cement brick unit settings and to estimate the prevalence of respiratory and musculoskeletal morbidities among the cement brick unit workers in a rural area of Bangalore urban district.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among cement brick unit workers over two months. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to capture sociodemographic details. Multiple observations on the field and the World Health Organization semi-quantitative risk assessment matrix were used to obtain risk scores of the occupational hazards. A structured questionnaire on respiratory symptoms and Minispir Portable Spirometer were used to assess the respiratory morbidities and lung functions. Musculoskeletal morbidities were assessed using the Modified Nordic questionnaire. Proportions were used to describe respiratory and musculoskeletal morbidities. Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test and multivariate logistic regressions were done to identify significant variables.
Results: Among 120 subjects, 110 (91.6%) were men and 85.8% were migrants. Injury due to falls of heavy objects, back injury, respiratory complaints and slips/falls were found to be high-risk health hazards. The prevalence of respiratory morbidity was 21.7% and that of musculoskeletal morbidity was 51.7%. Workers receiving a higher salary (≥ 1500 Indian rupees) had higher odds of having respiratory morbidity.
Conclusion: The prevalence of respiratory and musculoskeletal morbidities was high. Introduction of mechanical equipment, decreasing work hours, periodic medical examinations and appropriate use of personal protective equipment will help in risk reduction as per this study
Exploratory Analysis of the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire - Thai Version and Safety Climate among Thai Employees
Get PDFIntroduction: High death and injury rates at work are continually reported by the Ministry of Labour, Thailand, despite the promotion of the occupational safety, health, and environment (OSHE) management system across all enterprises. To identify the gap between OSHE and workers’ perception in terms of safety climate in Thai organizations, the Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire-Thai Version (T-NOSACQ) was used in this study.
Methods: The content validity index of the T-NOSACQ was assessed and this tool was employed to examine workers in six manufacturing firms and a tertiary care hospital between October 2015 and December 2016. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the total dataset to justify the final questionnaire. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the factors related to the safety climate score.
Results: The final T-NOSACQ included 5 dimensions with a total of 42 items. The internal consistency of each subscale was in the range of 0.73–0.89. There were 1191 participants, including 88.9% workers and 11.1% leaders, who voluntarily responded to the questionnaire. The lowest safety climate score was obtained on the dimension ‘employees’ risk acceptance’, especially at factory A (2.67±0.45 and 2.92±0.45 for the worker and leader groups, respectively). The highest score was obtained on the dimension ‘employees’ engagement to safety, especially at factory F (3.30±0.33 and 3.46±0.42 for the worker and leader groups, respectively).
Conclusion: The safety climate in both leader and workers groups can be predicted by T-NOSACQ. Thai employees exhibited a positive perception of safety engagement. However, the OSHE management system in Thailand, especially employees’ risk acceptance, should be improved
Work-related musculoskeletal disorders among dentists and their prevention through ergonomic interventions - A systematic review
Get PDFIntroduction: Occupational or work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) vastly prevail among dental professionals. This review aims to summarize the prevalence of WMSDs and ergonomic interventions for the prevention of WMSDs among dental professionals.
Methods: Thorough literature search was done using scientific databases. The terms musculoskeletal disorders among dentists/dental professionals/ hygienists in dentistry, occupational or work-related MSDs, ergonomics, ergonomic interventions, and several combinations were used as keywords. Articles published in the English language only were included. Abstracts, thesis work, and other languages were excluded.
Results: Our findings revealed several studies showing the prevalence of WMSD among dental professionals and ergonomic interventions to prevent MSDs among dental professionals.
Conclusion: Dental practice is highly challenging both in terms of physical and mental status there is a need for continuing efforts to discover innovative preventive strategies, to reduce the prevalence of WMSDs. This article guides dental professionals to incorporate the proper ergonomic methods in their early stages of day-to-day work, for long-term and healthy dental practice.
Assessment of job stress among non-teaching staff: A cross-sectional study at teaching hospital, Central India
Get PDFIntroduction: Job stress plays an important role in the maintenance of organizational performance. A key aspect of job stress is increased workload, role conflict, poor job control, lack of support from coworkers and interpersonal conflict. Most studies in the field of job stress have focused on private sectors. The objective of this study was to assess the job stress among non-teaching staff at government teaching hospital.
Methods: The present cross-sectional study was carried out in a government teaching hospital in central India between Jan 2020 to March 2020 among 90 participants purposively chosen for the study. New Job Stress Scale was used to assess the extent of stress among the participants. Approval from Institutional Ethical Committee was obtained before commencing the study. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 20 for percentages, mean and standard deviation.
Results: A moderate level of stress affects 47.78 percent of participants. The present study found that most problematic dimensions of job stress variables were dimension of role conflict with as many as 51% of participants had experience role expectation conflict.
Conclusion: We can infer from this finding that we need to have formal job description written for their non-teaching staff so that their role should be clear and unambiguous
Factors affecting post-traumatic growth in South Korean police officers by age group
Get PDFIntroduction: Police officers are exposed to a variety of traumatic events, which can be physical or psychological. This study aimed to identify factors that influence Post-traumatic growth (PTG) in South Korean police officers, according to age group.
Methods: Raw data were collected from September 26 to October 9, 2017, for 269 police officers who are employed at 10 police offices in Seoul. PTG was affected significantly by age, marital status, monthly income, and police rank in pain perception and social support variables among general characteristics.
Results: Factors that affected PTG in the ‘20~29’ age group were resilience and pain perception, but in the ‘30~39’ age group, only Pain perception was significant, and in the ‘over 50’ age group, social support and pain perception were significant.
Conclusions: The development of mental health programs for police should consider the age group of the patients. Mental health care should also be continuous
Particles and fragments in unused disposable face masks: A microscopic analysis
Get PDFIntroduction: In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments mandated the wearing of face masks by law. New research shows that these masks contain and release microplastics.
Methods: In the present work, five samples of surgical masks were examined microscopically for the presence of particles and fragments. The masks were purchased from two of the largest supermarket chains in Switzerland.
Results: Particles and fragments were found on the fiber surfaces in the inner layer of all face masks examined. The size of these objects varied in the range of about 2-40 µm, with dark spots and particles on the fibers having a smaller diameter than the more transparent fragments.
Conclusions: In this work, it was shown that particles and fragments in the micrometer range can be found on the inside of commercially available surgical face masks purchased in supermarkets in Switzerland. The health significance of the presence of particles and fragments in the micrometer range as demonstrated by the current investigation of surgical face masks needs to be further investigated
Factors Influencing Knowledge of Hepatitis B Vaccination amongst Healthcare Workers in a Rural Teaching Hospital in Southern Nigeria
Get PDFIntroduction: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are daily exposed to HBV infections from the blood and body fluids of patients and clients they care for in the health sector. Unfortunately, many of these HCWs are not vaccinated for hepatitis B. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing knowledge of hepatitis B vaccination amongst HCWs in a rural tertiary health facility in Edo State, Southern Nigeria.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used in this study, and data were collected using the quantitative approach. 280 HCWs were administered with pre-tested, semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaires. The obtained data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21.0, and the level of significance – alpha (α) was set at 5% (0.05).
Results: The mean age of HCWs was 34.90(±9.46) years. Just above half of the HCWs, 146 (52.1%), had a good knowledge of the hepatitis B (HB) vaccine. Work type (p<0.001) and category of HCWs (p<0.001) were significantly associated with the level of knowledge of hepatitis B vaccination by respondents.
Conclusion: There was poor knowledge of hepatitis B vaccination amongst HCWs with work type and category of HCW as determinants. Priority should be given to ensure targeted health promotion programmes that will improve knowledge, with a view to enhance optimal uptake of hepatitis B vaccine amongst HCWs
Ergonomics Evaluation of Manual Lifting Task on Biomechanical Stress in Symmetric Posture
Get PDFIntroduction: Manual lifting operations continue to play a key role in the industrial and service sectors, inflicting physical strain on the musculoskeletal system, despite advances in automation. As a result, an experiment is carried out to assess the impact of two lifting task parameters; weight and height, based on the estimation of subjective responses and biomechanical loading, while lifting the weight symmetrically in the sagittal plane. Also to recommend the safe limit for manual lifting tasks.
Methods: Twelve volunteer male students in the age group of 21 to 26 years performed lifting tasks from floor to 5 different heights (below the knee to ear level), with 5 different weights (10 to 20 kg) using free-style lifting techniques. The load pan with no handle was used for lifting weight, which is typically adopted in the Indian building construction field. The subjective estimate was obtained using workload assessment by body discomfort chart. The biomechanical loading (loading rate) for each lifted weight and height was collected using a force platform.
Results: The results showed that heavier weights produced higher stresses than lower weights. The loading rate was found to be almost similar at waist or knee level. The loading rate was observed to be linearly increasing after waist level. The overall workload rating seems to be a good correlate with the mean loading rate to some extent.
Conclusion: It is proposed to keep the maximum acceptable lifting weight from floor to knee, up to the ear level is 15 kg, to prevent any musculoskeletal or chronic injury
Lifestyle as an Indicator of Central Obesity in Coal Mining Workers from Indonesia
Get PDFIntroduction: Central obesity is an indicator of several non-communicable diseases, influenced by a lifestyle with low physical activity and foods consumption. Statistics in Indonesia showed that central obesity was 3.70% causing death in coal mining workers. However, few studies examine the risk factors for coal mining workers in Indonesia. Thus, this study aims to determine lifestyle indicators of central obesity in coal mining workers.
Methods: It was a cross-sectional study, measuring abdominal circumference with a tape measure, using a standard questionnaire for risk factors of central obesity (age, family history, smoking habits, exercise habits, drinking alcohol habits, and food frequency). The sample was 22 workers of a coal mining company in Indonesia and data collection was done in November 2021.
Results: All respondents were male, were not drinking alcohol, were less than 40 years old (55%), and most had no family history, but five percent (5%) had a family history of diabetes mellitus. Smokers (54.5%), light category smokers (33.3%) with a smoking duration of less than ten years (55.6%), having the habit of exercising less than two times a week, more than equal to 30 minutes per day. Among respondents, most of them consumed eating steamed rice (86.4%), chicken cooked \u27habang\u27 (40.9%), tofu (31.8%), kale (54.4%), apples (63.6%), and fried foods (45.5%). Lifestyles that have a relationship with central obesity are the length of exercise per day (0.003), the frequency of eating bread (0.033), and bananas (0.026).
Conclusion: Indicators of central obesity can be prevented by monitoring indicators of lifestyle factors (exercising habits, frequency of eating bread, and bananas)
Occupational radiation safety studies in Nepal – a review
Get PDFOccupational radiation safety and health is the most neglected aspect in the health sector in Nepal. There has been gross negligence in occupational safety and health as a whole in Nepal. This paper is a review of previously published articles on topics of occupational radiation safety and health in Nepal. Keywords such as Nepal, occupational safety, radiation safety, radiation risk, and health were used to search for relevant articles in PUBMED and Google Scholar.
A total of 15 research articles were reviewed, which dealt with different forms of occupational radiation risks and exposure, regulatory works and consequently its knowledge and awareness among the professionals. The reviewed articles are basically of 3 types: analytical or progress reports, knowledge or awareness assessment, and measurement-based research articles.
The overall status of occupational radiation safety and health does not look satisfactory. Although occupational radiation safety and health is a very important issue at an individual, social and national level in any hospital, agricultural or industrial sector, it has not received much attention so far in Nepal. This is evident by the minimal number of literature available on the status of occupational radiation safety and health in Nepal. Standard work situations and criteria have to be set up and regular radiation monitoring should be done to ensure the maintenance of quality at work. In addition, workshops, seminars, symposiums, training courses, and Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programs should be organized regularly to raise the level of radiation awareness in the profession. The state agencies need to develop and update respective national laws, policy and programs for occupational radiation safety and health. There is an utmost need for extensive researches to be performed covering overall radiation health and other services of the professionals in Nepal where radiation is being used for their advantageous purposes