Occupational hazards in medium and large scale industrial sectors in Sri Lanka: experience of a developing country

Abstract

ObjectiveOccupational hazards is an area where many countries have begun to pay more emphasis as it affects the health of many particularly in developing countries. However, documented literature is scarce in this regard although occupational hazards are common in workplaces. The study was carried out with the objective of describing the physical hazards and control measures adopted in the formal medium and large-scale industrial sector in Sri Lanka.ResultsOf the 69 units of the 25 factories, physical hazards detected in the workplaces were; excessive noise (78.3%), poor light (58%), increased temperature (65.2%), and poor ventilation (68.1%). Over 50% of large machinery and 33% of medium-scale machinery were not adequately guarded. Nearly 41% of the machinery were difficult to operate, of them 36.2% had controls in positions which were hard to reach. Of safety measures adopted, only 34.8% had proper demarcation of areas with 28.9% displaying safety signs. Housekeeping was poor in 59.4% and less than 40% had safe storage of raw materials and end products.

Occupational Safety Climate and Hazards in the Industrial Sector: Gender Differences Perspective, Saudi Arabia

“…In all five industries, noise was the most common occupational hazard, reported by 60.4% of study subject. In accordance with the present results, a previous study reported that noise was one of the most frequent occupational hazards reported by 78.3% (15). Additionally, 34% of the factories and 27.4% of the participants respectively produced a high level of noise (16,17).…”

Occupational Health and Safety Statistics as an Indicator of Worker Physical Health in South African Industry

“…However, the manufacturing, utilities, agriculture and trade sectors are often cited as the most hazardous [10], compared to office-based work associated with community service and finance. Employees at these industries are often exposed to physical, chemical and biological occupational health hazard types [10,19,[72][73][74][75], which are all linked to the ODs in Table 1. The paucity of the Compensation fundderived OD and injury statistics complicates the process of attributing the specific sectors from which these accidents emanated.…”

“…On this point, a survey carried out by local health inspectors in Estonia revealed that 16% of industrial workers were exposed to chemical, physical and biological agents [19]. Physical hazards and hazardous chemical substances were also identified in an occupational hygiene survey of 99 small Finnish workplaces [73] and Sri Lankan medium-and large-scale industrial sectors [72]. The extent of these hazards varies depending on the industry type, locality and precautionary measures taken by the worker and the employer [107][108][109].…”

Impact of the Management of Work Environmental Hazards on the Perceived Quality of Occupational Health and Safety among Operational Employees in Construction Industry

“…Compared with other industries, construction is a perilous field owing to its distinctive nature (Jannadi & Buhamsin, 2002) and construction is normally categorized as high risk (Arnold, et al 2019) and historically, it has been associated with a high rate of injuries and high rates of employees' death (Chan, 2011). The Labor Department in Sri Lanka states that 500,000 man-days are lost every year owing to occupational health hazards.…”

“…Evident to this, Dharshana (2017) points out that the workplace health and safety have not yet been sufficiently addressed by the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine. Arnold et al (2019) also clearly highlights, the occupational hazards have been identified by many countries as a major cause for the health of many developing countries, yet the documented literature is scarce. This shows the insufficient literature within the study context to explain how the management of hazardous factors affect the health and safety of the workers, especially in the construction industry.…”