Work Conditions and Health Status in Cottage Industries of Ambedkar Nagar District (Uttar Pradesh), India

Background and Objectives: Cottage industries have an important place in the economic development of developing countries like India. Cottage industries are the only industries to have employed rural people since long time. Cottage industry workers constitute a significant proportion of the total population of any industrial area. The health of this population is reflected in the health of the society in the given area. The aim of the present study is to identify the major health problems in different type of cottage industries and the factors which contribute to these problems. Methods: The study is mainly based on primary sources of data collected from field survey. A total of 169 workers engaged in 52 cottage industries were interviewed in Ambedkarnagar district for this study. The health status of the respondent has been assessed through questionnaire technique. The health problems have been divided in to three section viz., ergonomic problems, systemic problems and psychological problems. The association between different type of the cottage industries and various health problems has been tested statistically, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the significance level has been judged at the 0.05 level of confidence. Results and Conclusion: Analysis shows that respiratory problems (breathing, asthma, bronchitis and T.B.) in different industries vary significantly. In case of nature of health problem and discomfort of body parts do not differ significantly and is just a matter of chance. Present study conclude that the various industrial processes and workplace environment create conditions that led to varying health problems viz., muscular, respiratory, skin and stress and sleep in different industries as reflected in the physical and mental disorders afflicting this population.