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Health and Fitness
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Health and Fitness
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Diseases and morbidities concerning Indian workmen
Diseases and morbidities concerning Indian workmen
Occupational health and safety has come a long way from its beginnings in the heavy industry sector. It now has an impact on every worker, in every work place, and those charged with managing health and safety are having more and more tasks added to their portfolio.
Delhi,
Delhi,
India
(prbd.net)
15/10/2011
Scenario in India
India is a vast country and 58% of its people are labor employed mainly in coal-mining and agriculture. Major occupational diseases/morbidities of concern in India are silicosis, muscle-skeletal injuries, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases, asbestosis, byssinosis, pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss. Gross 121,000 deaths in India were recorded by the survey of agriculture injury incidence study in Northern India. Study also estimated annual incidence of 17 million injuries per year, (2 million moderate to serious) and 53,000 deaths per year in agriculture sector alone.
Forthcoming issues
• Asbestos and asbestos related diseases; Asbestos is a silent killer and there is a lot of controversy whether to ban asbestos use in country or not. Most of the developed nations have either banned or restricted the use, of asbestos. However in India, it is still used mainly in the cement industry.
• Pesticide poisoning: agriculture being the principle occupation in the country exposes a considerable proportion of population to this occupational related hazard. One such hazard is the pesticide exposure. Not only the farmers are exposed females and children are exposed to harmful effects of pesticides.
• Silica related diseases other than silicosis: Surveys in some of these industries have shown high prevalence (12–54%) of silicosis free silica has been classified as carcinogen. Though many studies have been carried out on the pulmonary effects of silica exposure, the studies on extra-pulmonary effects of free silica exposure such as progressive systemic sclerosis, systemic lupus-erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis, glomerulonephritis and vacuities are lacking.
• Musculoskeletal disorders: Musculoskeletal impairments impact significantly on the population, the health care utilization and the cost for society. The workplace is a significant source of occupational injury, occupational illness and related disability. The ILO estimates that 40% of all costs related to work-related injuries and diseases are due to musculoskeletal disorders.
Conclusion
Working conditions and the nature of employment tend to have major repercussions on the health of a workman. The concept of ‘Occupational health’ has evolved from work-related ailments. Occupational health broadly means any injury, impairment or disease affecting a worker or employee during his course of employment.
India is still very vulnerable country for its communicable occupational health diseases. As more than half of country’s population work as labor, the major occupational morbidities and diseases of concern in India are silicosis, muscular-skeletal injuries, coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, chronic obstructive lung diseases, asbestosis, byssinosis, pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss.
About
Occupational health and safety has come a long way from its beginnings in the heavy industry sector. It now has an impact on every worker, in every work place, and those charged with managing health and safety are having more and more tasks added to their portfolio. The most significant responsibility is environmental protection. The skills required to manage occupational health and safety are compatible with environmental protection, which is why these responsibilities are so often bolted onto
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