Prevalence and determinants of external injuries among industrial workers in an urban area of Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Background: Workers engaged in industries and construction sites faced several problems and often work in substandard conditions, getting exposed to various hazards in the work place without appropriate safety training. Injuries among workers are an important health issue in industries. This study was planned to assess the prevalence of external injuries among industrial workers in an industrial area and to identify the association between socio-demographic risk factors and external injuries among the industrial workers.Methods: This community based cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in an urban area of Kancheepuram District. A sample size of 302 was calculated based on a previous study result and Probability Proportional to Size sampling was used to select the required number of workers from the four sites identified. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Descriptive and Analytical Statistical calculations were done.Results: This study shows that 44.3% workers were affected by some form of external injuries during their working time. Skin Injuries like abrasions and lacerations [43%], contusion [26%], cut injuries [16%], foreign body in the eyes [12%] and falling from a height [10%] were common. There was strong statistically significant association with the occurrence of external injuries in the work place with the habits of smoking and tobacco use, alcohol drinking and the nature of work among the study group.Conclusions: The study shows high prevalence of external injuries among the workers. They need to be properly trained in safety mechanisms and procedures to follow in work places and also wearing proper personal protective devises during the working hours to prevent such injuries.

Prevalence and associated factors of occupational injuries in an industrial city in Ghana

“…The present study is consistent with a study in Ethiopia that reported about 63.4% occupational injury prevalence among industrial workers [ 46 ]. However, in an urban city in India, Sashidharan and Gopalakrishnan (2017) in a study among industrial workers reported an injury prevalence of 44.3% [ 37 ] which is lower than the prevalence rate (63.4%) observed in our study. In the present study, we estimated injury prevalence among over nine different occupational groups compared to two in the study in India [ 37 ] which could affect the injury rates.…”

“…Data collection was done using a structured questionnaire running on a smartphone with the aid of Kobo Collect. The questionnaire was entirely developed by the investigators through a literature review [ 10 , 17 , 29 , 37 – 41 ] and has not been validated. Data was collected on socio-demographic variables including age, sex, educational level, monthly salary, type of engagement, health and safety practices such as usage of PPE, frequency of PPE use, access to health and safety training and occurrence of occupational injuries with emphasis on the types, numbers and mechanisms of the injuries.…”

“…Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the factors that were independently associated with the occurrence of occupational injuries. All covariates that were significantly associated with occupational injury in the univariate analysis and those that were insignificant but considered important or potentially confounding based on previous studies [ 25 , 29 , 37 , 38 , 41 , 43 ] were incorporated in the final multivariate logistic regression model. We controlled for covariates that were insignificant but deemed important in the backward stepwise regression model using a p-value of 0.1.…”

Workplace injury and associated factors among construction workers in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia

“…The prevalence reported in this study is the same with findings of studies in Gondar city, 38.7% [30]; Maraki campus, University of Gondar, 38.7% [29]; Southeastern Ethiopia, 41.4% [36]; southwestern Ethiopia, 39.2% [37]; Addis Ababa, 38.3% [35]; and Nigeria, 39.25% [38]. The result of this study is lower than the results of other studies in Addis Ababa, 84.7% [31] and 67.7% [39], Iran, 79.8% [40]; Tamil Nadu, 44.3% [41]; and Egypt, 46.2% [42]. The result of this study is also higher than the report of other studies in Gondar, 15% [43]; Uganda, 32.4% [44]; and China 34.82% [45].…”

Assessing Health Seeking Behaviors and Economic Consequences of Morbidity in Indian Construction Workers: A Multicenter Study

“…Furthermore, an individual’s health seeking behavior and its economic impact are potentially driven by his/her vulnerability for poor health, health care expenses, and availability of resources. [ 3 4 5 6 7 ] Construction laborers, often deprived of social security and employee benefits in view of their employment in the unorganized and informal sector, are prone to poor health aggravating their economic condition. [ 3 ] In continuation, there is a gap in understanding the economic impact of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) (i.e., spending more than 10% of their family income on medical expenses[ 8 ]) incurred among this vulnerable group.…”