Occupational Health and Safety Hazards in Agriculture

Within the agricultural sector, it becomes essential worldwide to analyze the magnitude of OHS problems. However, there is a lack of study in Odisha (India) to assess the prevailing situations. Hence, an attempt was made in this study to explore the issues related to OHS among the farmers of Odisha in India. There is a dual main contribution in this study. At first the occupational health and safety issues of farmers of Odisha in India were analyzed based on the literature review and the data collected by personal interaction and questionnaires. In the second part, the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) method was used to rank the different farming processes, as well as different risks involved in various farming activities.

Adult Children’s Monitoring, Knowledge, and Intergenerational Ambivalence

Monitoring aging parents' daily life is an essential task for adult children to ensure their parents’ health and safety. The current study examined domains of parents' lives that adult children monitored as caregivers. Based on social domain theory (Smetana, 1999), we hypothesized that adult children would monitor parents’ health and safety issues as respecting parents’ autonomy in other issues. The study also examined how adult children’s belief in need for monitoring and their perception of having actual knowledge of their parents’ behaviors and thoughts would relate to the intensity of their intergenerational ambivalence. Adults who had at least one living parent (N=398, Mage=60, SD=7.7, range 45-77) participated in online surveys. Issues of parents' lives that adult children monitored were categorized into four domains by factor analysis: parents' financial safety, health and physical safety, substance use, and plans with other adult children. A series of regression analyses revealed that adult children's sense of need to know about parents' financial safety was associated with lower ambivalence, B=-.60, SE=.18, β=-.23, p=.001, whereas parents’ physical safety was associated with greater ambivalence, B=.42, SE=.19, β =.17, p=.03. Adult children's perception of their knowledge about parents' financial safety was positively associated with their ambivalence, B=.58, SE=.20, β=.22, p=.004, whereas adult children's perception of parents' physical safety was negatively associated with their ambivalence, B=-.42, SE=.21, β=-.14, p=.05. Different meanings of different types of parents' safety issues for adult children as their caregivers and suggestions for future research will be discussed.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE & EDUCATION FOR TAPIS CRAFTMAN IN NEGERI KATON VILLAGE

Informal sector workers are workers who are most vulnerable to various risks that cause health problems. Health and safety issues related to their work can interfere with their productivity. Tapis craftsmen in the Negeri Katon Village,Pesawaran Regency, Lampung is part of the Tapis Jejama UMKM. Based on interviews with the UMKM coordinator, it was found that the craftsmen complained of back, neck, arm, and hand pain and symptoms of anemia. This interferes with the productivity of Tapis craftsmen. This service aims to improve the occupational health status of filter craftsmen in Negeri Katon Village to support work productivity in both health and economic aspects. The benefits of this activity are to reduce the incidence of anemia, musculoskeletal pain and help strengthen Negeri Katon Village as a Creative Tourism Village. The activity was carried out with a target of 30 tapis craftsmen. The solutions offered are occupational health services for tapis craftsmen, health education about ergonomics, occupational nutrition, and the stretching benefits. The results obtained that 100% of workers complained of musculoskeletal pain, as many as 5 people (8.3%) got hypertension and as many as 12 people (40%) got anemia. Before education, the knowledge of filter craftsmen about health risks in their work was 68% and after education is carried out, there is an increase of 97%. This activity needs to be carried out with the establishment of the Pos Upaya Kesehatan Kerja (UKK) as an effort to maintain the health of tapis craftsmen in Negeri Katon Village, Pesawaran Regency, Lampung.

Safety and Compliance in Selected Construction sites of Nairobi County: A case Study of Reynolds Construction Company Nairobi Kenya

Health and safety issues are a critical consideration in workplaces and more particularly, construction sites where accidents are prone to occur. This study aimed at examining the compliance levels of health and safety issues at construction sites in Kenya based on the case of Reynold Construction Company in Nairobi County. The study adopted a quantitative research design. Stratified sampling was adopted and therefore, the target research population was divided into strata that consisted of departments in the organization, where 5% of the population were sampled from each department. A total of 45 respondents were selected out of 250 employees at Reynold Construction Company. The questionnaire, observation method and document analysis were used to collect data. Descriptive analysis was used for the quantitative data that was collected using the questionnaire. The study found that safety is addressed to some extent at the company but there is still room for improvement especially on health preparedness. The study concluded that the company’s employees should be shown safety audit documents that addresses all areas of safety and health. The employees should be involved in workplace inspection. A health and safety committee should be inclusive of all cadres.

Factors affecting safety performance on construction sites: An overview

The construction industry is one of the most significant industries that contribute greatly to achieving economic development. However, it is also considered one of the industries that is always exposed to a high risk of hazards in addition to being full of risky activities. Accidents that occurred in construction industries have caused many defects in project progress, for example, delays in completing the project, increasing project cost, reducing productivity, and creating negative impressions about the company. The major reason for the accidents is poor worker safety performance, with a host of contributing causes. For improving safety performance, the root causes of incidents that occur in construction as well as the factors influencing them must be studied. Health and safety issues are the main problem and concerns in the building industry. Though much development has been made in construction safety, the industry still lacks a lag behind most other industries in terms of safety. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the factors that could affect the safety performance of a construction site to reduce the frequency of accidents.

ENSURING HEALTH AND SAFETY IN PETROLEUM BUILT ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF SRI LANKA

The petroleum-built environment is an important area of concern, which mainly includes refinery and storage facilities. Since its hazardous nature leading unexpected accidents and disasters, the safety of petroleum-built environment has become a vital requirement to eliminate the hazards associated with the petroleum process. However, a comprehensive study on safe handling of petroleum products in Sri Lanka is not reported so far. Hence, this study aimed at enhancing the health and safety in handling process of petroleum products in refinery and storage facilities. A comprehensive literature review was initially conducted on the petroleum products handling process, and national and international safety guidelines. Case study method was used since this study requires an in-depth investigation. Two prominent cases for refinery and storage facilities were studied to collect the data. Content analysis technique was used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that Factories Ordinance, National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Guideline, Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) standard, and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Guideline are commonly considered in ensuring health and safety of petroleum-built environment. Further, the chronic deceases in lungs and heart, cancers, high noise generation, unwillingness to use personal protective equipment (PPE), bowser and wagon accidents, fuel fire risk, pipeline leakages, and water and soil pollution were highlighted as common health and safety issues in refinery and storage. Finally, various strategies were proposed to overcome the identified health and safety issues ensuring the health and safety of petroleum-built environment.