A study on the disease profile associated with the workers of press industries in Dhaka city

Abstract

Being a third world country, Bangladesh is still developing in many core areas. One of this area is the level of literacy. The people who are working in the printing presses of Dhaka are either illiterate or simply passed the high school. However, despite their literacy level, they are required to work with various hazardous elements without knowing the consequence of unprotected handling. Unless and until the proprietor of these industries take necessary steps against it, these workers shall continue working with these hazardous chemicals. Due to this, it is of immense necessity that the workers are made aware of the dangers associated with these chemicals and the proprietors know about the health hazards by those chemicals. The prime purpose of this study was to know about these diseases caused as a consequence of the aforementioned chemicals used in the printing industry and to have a knowledge about the level of awareness among the employers to ensure safe place and environment of work. The research was conducted among 250 workers from different printing houses of Dhaka city. From the result of this research, it was determined that the workers of the printing industry were suffering from various diseases. With gastritis (21.73%) and different kinds of skin diseases (15.65%) being the disease mostly suffered, the workers were also suffering from diseases such as high blood pressure (16.52%), eye irritations (32.80%), coughing (30.40%), joint pain (28%), muscle weakness (18.80%), etc. In addition to these, the workers also suffered from various occupational injuries due to the lack of proper safety training and protective clothing. Moreover, with the lack of proper medical facilities as well, the workers had been suffering from the above diseases for years after years without even realizing it. Lastly, it is pertinent to acknowledge that the result of this study should not be taken as conclusive. To obtain the whole picture of the aforementioned crisis the press industries of Bangladesh, further studies are required.