Thumbnail Image

Theses

Browse

20221
Reset filters
Subject: Family Resource Management × Author: Ankita Renu × End date: 2024 × Start date: 2020 × Type: Thesis ×
Reset filters

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Occupational health hazards among bamboo handicraft workers: a study in Samastipur district of Bihar
    (G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, 2022-10) Ankita Renu; Sandhya Rani
    Among the various categories of unorganized sector, there exists a class of craftsman who specializes in bamboo handicraft making. Bamboo handicraft is the traditional craft using bamboo as raw material. A range of items can be handcrafted from bamboo, often needing few or basic tools. The making of bamboo handicrafts is a crucial activity which involves several labour intensive processes like in any other employment sector, workers involved in craft making process goes through an equal higher risk of being injured as a type of work they do. The work process of making bamboo handicraft involved tedious activities in different stages; it starts from the stage of cutting and lifting of bamboo logs to handicrafts making stage. They work without taking care of their health and without any safety measure. They suffer from many problems related to occupation, health and safety. The present study was taken up, in order to assess the occupational health hazards of rural bamboo handicraft workers and to gather some information about their perceived health needs in six rural communes of Pusa Block of Samastipur District of Bihar, India. A descriptive research with the sample size of 120 rural bamboo handicraft workers selected through simple random sampling was planned. The data was collected through personal interview technique. The findings of the study revealed that a major fraction of the population was in the age group of 34-41 years old with mean age 39.083. Literacy was found to be low in the study population. Monthly family income from bamboo handicraft work was found of Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 15,000 with mean income of 9843.33. Bamboo handicrafts were mainly produced by workers engaged in semiskilled work with more than 15 years of experience. Most of workers reported that they work for 6 to 10 hours per day frequency of twice a day. More of them carried load between 10-15kg with erect standing mostly on their head. Most common health problem among worker were found cold, cough, fever, fatigue, headache, muscles tightness and work related stress. The most commonly affected regions among the workers are shoulders, one or both anklets/feet, one or both hips/thighs and both knees in last 12 months. At baseline, symptoms severe enough to reduce activities during work were most common in the shoulders, one or both anklets/feet, one or both hips/thighs and both knees. Based on the results of hazards and risk identification checklist, 17 potential hazards are identified from all stages of the bamboo handicraft making process, and 15 health and safety risks are identified from all potential hazards. These risks must be prioritized for control, originating from the potential hazards of ergonomics and chemicals. For this, recommendations on risk control were suggested to reduce these risks and hazards at workplace ad to improve their work. A significant relationship was found between age and work experience (p<0.01) and a significant association was found in the hazards/risks and work process of making bamboo handicrafts (p<0.01).