Occupational health problems among female sewing machine operators

Pages: 122-126
Neha Gahlot, Manju Mehta and Kiran Singh (Department of Family Resource Management, I.C. College of Home Science, CCSHAU, Hisar, Haryana)

A vast majority of women working in textile and apparel industries serve as sewing machine operators. Sitting in a fixed position constantly because of the sight requirements at the machine, leads to a static burden that threatens the health of the worker. Although the sewing process could provide a qualitative improvement and a flexible work style to the worker when it is treated as a whole, but female sewing machine operators as an individual in the workplace, are limited by the simple and repetitive tasks because of highly advanced labour divisions and no defined workplace setup. The present study was formulated with the objective of exploring the work profile of female sewing machine operators. The objective of the study also includes the investigation of health problems of female sewing machine operators. The present study was conducted in Hisar city of Haryana states, where 80 female sewing machine operators were selected, who were performing sewing activity from last 4 years. A pre tested and well planned questionnaire was used to along with interview schedule to collect the responses of the respondents. The results of the study revealed that the mean working years of the respondents were 11.91 where the mean working hours were 5.74. it was also observed that 91.25 percent respondents were not having rest between the work. Among the physiological problem lower back pain (72.50%) and body ache (52.50%), in symptomatic problems, Muscle stiffness (50%), and joint stiffness (45%) and in psychological problems low motivation (33.75%) and frequent bad mood (16.25%) were found the most due to sewing activity. A significant difference was found between health problems and working years, working hours and age of the respondents.