Occupational safety and health is a neglected area in small scale cottage factories in Nepal. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 10 small scale carpet factories in Bhaktapur district of Nepal among 100 workers to find out their occupational health and safety status. The study revealed that majority of the workers were females (57%) and more than half (52%) of the workers were aged 20 - 30 years. The duration of work in a day ranged from 8 to 12 hours and majority were weavers (58%). About three in four (77%) worked outside the factory as well. None of them received health education at work and none of the factories had medical treatment facilities and had only basic first aid treatment. Similarly, 80% were not found to be using any personal protective equipment (PPE) during work. A total of 90% workers regarded the dust control measures in their factory as poor; 90% regarded ventilation as poor, 60% reported fire management preparedness as poor; and 30% perceived the first aid treatment services as poor. Majority of them (84%) said they had experienced some health problems at work. The most commonly reported health problems were backache/joint ache (63.1%), eye irritations (40.48%), prolonged headache (40.48%), chest pain (38.1%), and skin irritation (23.81%). Only 27.38% of them informed the authority after experiencing problems; 65.22% of those who reported their problems received treatment. Interestingly, 10% said it was not big deal to have health problems while working in the carpet factory. Further comparative and analytical studies are recommended to explore the occupational health status in small scale factories in Nepal.
Geographically, Nepal is landlocked between two of the largest countries of the world; China and India, which are the third and the seventh largest countries of the world, respectively [
Small-scale industries are a widespread, fundamental and essential form of production. In many countries, small-scale industries are the main providers of new employment. In addition, these industries play an outstanding part in economic development of countries by producing export products [
Of the total 3 billion workers in the world, over 85% work and live without having access to occupational health services (OHS). In many countries on all continents, occupational health services may cover only 5% of the workforce. Statistics on coverage are also very unreliable and subject to variations in the definitions and measurement methods [
A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from May 2011 to October 2011 in selected carpet factories of Bhaktapur district. The workers were selected randomly from 10 factories, 10 from each factory that yielded a total of 100 study subjects. Interviews were conducted with the working staff in the selected factories. The questionnaire was pretested among 10 workers in Lalitpur district. The managers and supervisors were not included in the study. Verbal informed consent was taken from the participants before taking the interview. Privacy and confidentiality was ensured during the study. The respondents were also not forced to answer any of the questions. After data collection, data was entered in MS-EXCEL 2007, which was further analyzed using SPSS version 16 software. Descriptive statistics was only used to analyze the data because of the limited sample size.
Fifty two percent were aged 20 - 30 years and 23% were of age 10 - 20 years. Majority of the workers were females (57%) and majority (67%) were Janajatis who are the indigenous people living in the district. One in four (25%) of the factory workers were unmarried. Looking at the marital status, 40% were from nuclear families. Similarly, when they were asked about the distance of place of residence from the factory, it was revealed that 84% of the workers were living inside the factory (
As seen in
Demographic characteristics (n = 100) | Frequency | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Age | ||
10 - 20 years | 23 | 23 |
20 - 30 years | 52 | 52 |
30 - 40 years | 22 | 22 |
40 - 50 years | 3 | 3 |
Sex | ||
Male | 43 | 43 |
Female | 57 | 57 |
Ethnicity | ||
Janajatis | 67 | 67 |
Non-Dalit Terai | 28 | 28 |
Dalit | 3 | 3 |
Upper caste | 2 | 2 |
Marital status | ||
Unmarried | 25 | 25 |
Married | 75 | 75 |
Family type | ||
Nuclear | 40 | 40 |
Joint | 52 | 52 |
Extended | 8 | 8 |
Distance of factory from place of residence | ||
Living within factory | 84 | 84 |
Within 30 minutes | 7 | 7 |
30 min−1∙hour | 5 | 5 |
More than one hour | 4 | 4 |
Characteristics | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
Other family members working in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 44 | 44 |
No | 56 | 56 |
Number of family members working (n = 44) | ||
1 | 18 | 40.91 |
2 | 12 | 27.27 |
3 | 9 | 20.45 |
4 | 5 | 11.36 |
Nature of job (n = 100) | ||
---|---|---|
Store related | 10 | 10 |
Weaving | 58 | 58 |
Spinning | 16 | 16 |
Dying related | 16 | 16 |
Satisfied with the job (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 15 | 15 |
No | 85 | 85 |
Years of work in the factory (n = 100) | ||
1 - 5 | 64 | 64 |
5 - 10 | 32 | 32 |
>10 | 4 | 4 |
Working days in a week (n = 100) | ||
6 | 100 | 100 |
Work hours in a day (n = 100) | ||
8 | 35 | 35 |
10 | 15 | 15 |
12 | 50 | 50 |
Working at other places (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 77 | 77 |
No | 23 | 23 |
Nature of work at other places (n = 77) | ||
Carpet related | 69 | 89.61 |
Non-carpet related | 8 | 10.39 |
Provision of periodic health examination in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 0 | 0 |
No | 100 | 100 |
Provision of medical treatment besides first aid in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 0 | 0 |
No | 100 | 100 |
Provision of sick leave | ||
Yes | 100 | 100 |
No | 0 | 0 |
Provision of health education for occupational safety | ||
Yes | 0 | 0 |
No | 100 | 100 |
related work. All the workers said they were not provided the health education at work and all of them said there was no any provision of medical treatment in addition to the basic first aid services. All the workers said that there was a provision of sick leave in the factory.
Of total workers, 95% had the view that periodic health examination is necessary for factory workers; 95% said First aid treatment is necessary; 92% said personal protective equipment (PPE) should be used regularly; 92% said the non-use of PPE can cause health problems; 90% said occupational health and safety is the role of both the owner and workers and 10% had the view that having health problems while working in the factory is not a big deal (
Of total workers, 80% were not found to be using any safety measures or PPE. Of 20 workers who were using some measures, the PPE used were gloves (85%), boots (35%), aprons (30%) and mask (15%). Of 20 workers who used the PPE, 25% used it rarely, 50% used sometimes and 25% used always. When asked whether they were ever supervised by their boss at work, 10% said they were never supervised. The workers were also asked about their perceived quality of occupational safety at work in the factory. A total of 90% workers perceived the dust control measures in their factory as poor; 90% reported ventilation facility as poor, 60% reported fire management preparedness as poor; and 30% perceived the first aid treatment services as poor (
Statements | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
Periodic health examination for factory workers is necessary | ||
Yes | 95 | 95 |
No | 5 | 5 |
First aid treatment is necessary | ||
Yes | 94 | 94 |
No | 6 | 6 |
Personal protective equipment should be used regularly | ||
Yes | 92 | 92 |
no | 0 | 0 |
Don’t know | 8 | 8 |
Non-use of PPP can cause occupational health problems | ||
Yes | 92 | 92 |
No | 1 | 1 |
Don’t know | 7 | 7 |
Occupational health safety is the role of | ||
Factory owner only | 10 | 10 |
Worker only | 0 | 0 |
Both the owner and worker | 90 | 90 |
Having health problems is not a big deal in factory work | ||
Agree | 10 | 10 |
Disagree | 86 | 86 |
Don’t know | 4 | 4 |
Characteristics | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
Used any safety measures (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 20 | 20 |
No | 80 | 80 |
Type of safety measures (n = 20) | ||
Gloves | 17 | 85 |
Mask | 3 | 15 |
Apron | 6 | 30 |
Boots | 7 | 35 |
Frequency of use of any safety measures (n = 20) | ||
Rarely | 5 | 25 |
Sometimes | 10 | 50 |
Always | 5 | 25 |
Supervision by manager at work (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 90 | 90 |
No | 10 | 10 |
Self-Reported quality of dust control measure in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Good | 0 | 0 |
Average | 10 | 10 |
Poor | 90 | 90 |
Self-reported condition of ventilation in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Good | 0 | 0 |
Average | 10 | 10 |
Poor | 90 | 90 |
Self-reported quality of fire management in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Good | 0 | 0 |
Average | 40 | 40 |
Poor | 60 | 60 |
Self-reported quality of first aid facility in the factory (n = 100) | ||
good | 10 | 10 |
Average | 60 | 60 |
poor | 30 | 30 |
Majority (84%) said they had experienced the health problems after working in the factory. The most common reported health problems were backache/joint ache (63.1%), eye irritations (40.48%), prolonged headache (40.48%), chest pain (38.1%), skin irritation (23.81%), GI infections (17.86%), prolonged cough (14.29%), loss of appetite (5.95%) and fainting (3.57%). Only a few of them informed the authority after experiencing health problems (27.38%); 65.22% were not provided treatment benefits after informing the authority; and of those who were treated, only a third of them (37.5%) were treated in the hospital (
It is commonly assumed that occupational injuries are less of a problem in developing countries because there is less industrialization. Spot studies reveal, however, that injuries are a serious problem among miners, agricultural workers, and industrial workers in most countries [
Carpet hand-weaving is a common practice in countries such as, India, China, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan and is then transported to other countries for selling. Hand woven carpets are produced in home-based workshops categorized as informal small-scale industry. The work is often organized around families and carried out in homes. As most of the setups are installed in homes, womenfolk and children also contribute to the work [
Characteristics | Frequency | Percent |
---|---|---|
Experienced health problems after working in the factory (n = 100) | ||
Yes | 84 | 84 |
No | 16 | 16 |
Nature of health problems (n = 84) | ||
Prolonged cough | 12 | 14.29 |
Skin infections | 20 | 23.81 |
Back ache/joint ache | 53 | 63.1 |
Chest pain | 32 | 38.1 |
Eye irritations | 34 | 40.48 |
Prolonged headache | 34 | 40.48 |
Gastro-intestinal infections | 15 | 17.86 |
Loss of appetite | 5 | 5.95 |
Fainting | 3 | 3.57 |
Informed health problems to the authority (n = 84) | ||
Yes | 23 | 27.38 |
No | 61 | 72.62 |
Treatment provided by authority after informing (n = 23) | ||
Yes | 8 | 34.78 |
No | 15 | 65.22 |
Type of treatment after informing (n = 8) | ||
At hospital | 3 | 37.5 |
At health post | 5 | 62.5 |
The prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders is increasing worldwide. The association between job type and the specific activities within jobs that predispose to the risk of developing such disorders is well documented for developed countries. The prevalence of any work-related musculoskeletal disorders in developing countries ranges from 37% among a general population-based sample of workers through to 92% among nurses [
Injuries are very common among the factory workers [
In a study done in Tanzania, there was low reported use of personal protective equipment [
A study revealed that poor workstation design was a major risk factor for musculoskeletal symptoms in carpet weaving [
The study was conducted in an urban district and hence might not be able to capture the picture of all carpet factory workers in Nepal. The sample size of the study is also small. So, further researches with large and more representative sample can be done in the future in this area.
Raj Kumar Subedi,Subin Banamala, (2015) Occupational Safety and Health among Carpet Factory Workers in a District of Nepal. Open Access Library Journal,02,1-9. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1101527