Morbidities in the Glass Factory Workers of Central India.

Abstract

Introduction: The health hazard of glass factory has been enlisted in ILO encyclopedia. Morbid conditions in glass factory workers are injuries, heat exhaustion, respiratory morbidity, ophthalmic morbidity, nephrolithiasis etc. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of morbidity in the glass factory workers and compare it with comparison group. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study with comparison group, which was matched for age, sex and socio-economic status, unexposed to similar working environment from adjacent area. The Glass Factory is situated at Kamptee Road, Nagpur. 263 workers were studied along with 263 comparison group. Interview technique, general observation was used for data collection by using Pre-designed Proforma. Sampling design was Convenience sampling Technique. Statistical analysis was done with Epi Info 2002. Results: Total morbidities were 442 and 153 in the workers and in the comparison group respectively. Mean no. of morbidity in the worker was 1.7 with SD 0.94 and in the comparison group it was 0.6 with SD 0.83. The difference was statistically significant [Z=13.76, p<0.01, highly significant]. Of the total morbidities i.e. 442 in workers, injury constituted 251 (56.9%). Incised injury 156 (59.3%) in the workers and 32 (12.2%) in the comparison group. Conclusion: Prevalence of injury and effect of environment in the workers of Glass Factory was more than subjects in comparison group.