Abstract :
Background: In developing countries, where work is being increasingly mechanised, a number of work
processes have been developed that treat workers as tools in production, putting their health and lives at
risk. Hence the current study was done to identify the morbidity pattern among stainless steel industry
workers and to determine the relationship between morbidities and other associated factors related to work.
Study Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted in a small scale stainless steel industry of
Tamil Nadu. 143 industrial workers were selected by using universal sampling method. Workers with
experience of not less than 1 year were automatically included in the study and those with pre-existing
illness before joining the industry were excluded. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data
from study participants.
Results: It was estimated that nearly 15.4% of employees had work experience of more than a year and
84.6% had experience of more than 2 years. Overall prevalence of morbidity pattern in employees as per this
study was 95.1%. Most common morbidity among workers was myalgia (50.3%) and second commonest
was mechanical injuries (49%). The association between nature of work and morbidity suggested that
59% employees working in powdering, polishing section had history of mechanical injuries and 38.2% of
employees in powdering, polishing section developed hearing loss. Among the employees not using PPE,
15.2% of them developed bronchial asthma, 29.3% had hearing loss, 21.2% had skin manifestation and
42.4% had mechanical injuries, these associations were found to be statistically significant.
Keyword :
Morbidity pattern, Occupational health.