Occupational Medicine & Health Affairs
Open Access

Abstract

Introduction: The concept of occupational safety and health is in its initial stage in Nepal. Textile industries contain many hazards and risks to workers. Because of exposure to noise, chemicals and air borne particulate, workers involved in manual handling and working with machinery are at risk of various ill health conditions. Objectives: 1.To identify health problems related to exposures in textile industry. 2.To assess the practice of safety precautions among workers. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Pragati Textile Industry located at industrial corridor of eastern Nepal. All the workers (219) who were present at the time of study were interviewed by using pretested semistructured questionnaires. Blood pressure, height and weight were measured. Ethical consideration was maintained. Walk through examination was done using observational check list. SPSS V.16 was used for analysis of data. Result: Most of the workers (62.1%) were in age group of 20 to 39 years and 30.6% workers had been working for more than 10 years. High intensity of noise was noticed in weaving and winding departments while low intensity of noise was noticed in other departments. Low level of dust was noticed in the industry. Only 16% workers used personal protective equipments. Ear muffs were used by only 7.3% workers. Respiratory problems (20.5%), ear problems (23.8%), eye problems (33.8%), skin problems (14.2%), hypertension(6.4%), gastritis (5.9%), musculoskeletal problem (4.6%), under-nutrition (11.4%) were prevalent among workers. The proportion of workers reporting hearing problem in weaving and winding departments was more than that in the other departments. Conclusion: High intensity of noise was noticed in the textile industry. Eye problem was the most common problem followed by ear problem, respiratory problem and skin problems. Hypertension and under-nutrition was also present. Hearing problems of the workers could be due the presence of high noise in the industry. Use of personal protective equipment in the textile industry was not satisfactory.

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