HEALTH AND SAFETY CHALLENGES OF WORKERS IN FACTORIES IN PAKISTAN AND THE ROLE OF HEALTH DEPARTMENT: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Abstract

In Pakistan thousands of workers are routinely exposed to hazards in textile industry. There are different hazards faced by the workers of textile industry. There are different factors, which are responsible to create the hazards in the working environment. In textile these are Physical, Biological, Chemical and Ergonomic (personal) factors. There are some other aspects, which are responsible to create hazards in the work place environment i.e. shift work, smoking at work place, job strained proper use of personal protective equipments etc. The introduction of hazards technologies in industry has resulted in high accident rates, occupational diseases, and unhealthy working environments. Most workers are illiterate and do not know what protective measures should be adopted for their jobs. Most of the workforce is not prepared to cope with the hazards posed by manufacturing and industrial processes. The present study was designed to know the role of hazards control measures in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) in textile industry. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select the 480 permanent workers respondents between the ages 30-55. Uni-variate and Bi-variate analysis shows a strong and positive association. The study proposed that awareness about hazards should improve occupational health and safety.