Awareness of Occupational cancers among industrial workers

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Awareness of Occupational cancers among industrial workers

Journal Title: National Journal of Research in Community Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 7, Issue 0

Abstract

Occupational cancer is a serious health problem in Industry. Exposure to chemicals, dusts, radiation, and certain industrial processes have been too tied to occupational cancer. The proper use of safety measures by industrial worker is an important way of preventing and/or reducing occupational cancers. There is lack of awareness among industrial workers about occupational cancers and the use of Personal Protective Equipments. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge of industrial workers on occupational cancers in Chennai city. It was a cross - sectional study using a stratified sampling technique to recruit industrial workers into the study group in Chennai city. One hundred and fifty industrial workers belonging to level 5 and level 6 of the industry exposing to ionizing radiations such as X-rays and ultraviolet rays that occur in arc and other electric welding processes and infrared rays produced in welding processes were studied. A structured interview questionnaire was used to collect the data among the industrial workers. The data was entered in a MS excel sheet and was analyzed using SPSS software 21 version. The data was expressed in percentages, frequencies and continuous data was expressed in mean and SD. Appropriate test of significance was done to test the hypothesis wherever needed. Only 57.3% of the employees were aware of occupational cancers, causes, symptoms and the treatment options and 28% of the employees use all the personal protective equipments during exposure to welding. Thus, this study revealed that the level of awareness of occupational cancers among industrial workers was very low. There is need of further implementation of the safety measures as significant proportions of the workers still had low awareness. Implementation of industrial safety regulations could help to assess workers behavior and increasing the number of safety training programs would increase the awareness on occupational cancers.

Authors and Affiliations

Subhitsha. M, Balaji Arumugam, Suganya. E

Keywords

Occupational cancers Radiation level of awareness

EP ID EP529091
DOI 10.26727/NJRCM.2018.7.3ii.72
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