Health Risk Assessment in Oil Industry in Bahia, Brazil: The Worker’s Health Risk Index (WHRI)

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the worker’s health (WH) risk, focused on sustainable development in a work context and based on the development and application of the Worker’s Health Risk Index (WHRI) in the oil extraction and production industry in Bahia, Brazil. The sample, obtained by quota sampling, comprised 965 participants. The development stage integrates the Interdisciplinary Workers Health Approach Instrument (IWHAI) application to collect worker’s data, the analysis of the relationships between the indicators, the risk ranges definition, the WHRI formulas elaboration, the WHRI final application and its discriminant validity. Three risk ranges were defined: “Low”, “Moderate” and “High”. WHRI revealed the ability to identify differences between the population studied, according to sex, age group and education level. The results indicate that 74% of the participants are in the “Low”, 21% in the “Moderate” and 5% in the “High” risk ranges. High-risk workers are also those with diabetes mellitus, triglycerides, altered glycemia and hypertension, poor oral hygiene and periodontal condition, smoking, less physically active (all with p < 0.05), and higher levels of abstentionism. WHRI major contribution is to make available a useful tool for the identification of WH risk, contributing to define clearer health promotion, prevention and intervention policies in the context of WH.