Hazards and Safe Housekeeping Practices among Healthcare Sanitary Workers in South India
Introduction: Sanitary workers provide essential public services. They are far too often invisible, unqualified, and ostracized, and many of the challenges they face stem from this fundamental lack of acknowledgment. Sanitation workers are exposed to serious occupational hazards. Objective: The obje...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of the Scientific Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jss.jss_310_24 |
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| Summary: | Introduction:
Sanitary workers provide essential public services. They are far too often invisible, unqualified, and ostracized, and many of the challenges they face stem from this fundamental lack of acknowledgment. Sanitation workers are exposed to serious occupational hazards.
Objective:
The objective of the study was to evaluate the physical hazards that sanitary workers face, with a particular focus on skin diseases and respiratory conditions.
Materials and Methods:
It is a cross-sectional study done among sanitary workers in the healthcare industry. Simple random sampling was done, and 101 was the sample size. Training was conducted for all the participants, and knowledge was assessed after the session using the questionnaire. Responses related to physical hazards were measured and analyzed.
Results:
Out of 101 study participants, 53% were female, 77.2% were married, 38.6% had nonformal education, and 80.2% are from middle socioeconomic status, where 50.5% have more than 5 years of experience. Regarding hazards, 21% have tripped and fallen at least once and 5% do not know how to lift heavy weights. Regarding knowledge, 96% know the chemicals, 98% about the usage of personal protective equipment, and 99% are aware of noise hazards after proper training. Among the diseased, the middle class is high (57.1%) with a P = 0.013, and 85.7% of more than 5 years of experience are affected (P = 0.014). Only 17.8% are affected by physical hazards if trained and 72.7% are affected among partially trained (P ≤ 0.001).
Conclusions:
Most of the participants are trained and that has reduced the physical hazards. The study must be done to evaluate the cause and nature of the disease. Health education programs on health and safety issues regarding hazards must be given on a routine basis. |
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| ISSN: | 0974-5009 2278-7127 |