Application of Ergonomic Interventions in Informal Sectors of West Bengal

Dr. Somnath Gangopadhyay Professor, Occupational Ergonomics Laboratory Department of Physiology, University Calcutta, India Abstract: Introduction: Informal economy has a tremendous potential in job as well as income generation. The final report of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector (NCEUS) showed that the workers in the unorganized (informal) sector constitute more than 93 percent of the total workforce of India. The informal sector is characterized by minimum personal relationship between the employer and the employee. The most of the employees are contractual or casual. The labor laws are mostly, not applicable in the informal sector. There is lack of occupational safety & health awareness among them. Moreover, this tremendous work force directly links with work pressure. Here, time is calculated as accumulation of money. Work and time will become the stress to these workers. Production has great importance than safety and health, so, human comfort is greatly neglected. Demand for investigation on health and safety is a common and genuine demand of informal sectors. In 2001, in International Labor Conference, the challenge for integration of Informal economy with formal economy was greatly discussed. We should include another challenge: the applications of work comfort in informal sectors. Objectives or Hypothesis: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most predominant forms of occupational health problems that are increasingly affecting the global working populations. The work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among informal workers can be prevented. It is essential and important to find out and apply the exact interventions which will efficiently reduce WMSDs. By changing the existing workstation, design of tools, mechanical devices and by application of aids, training, proper job rotation and stress management the WMSD can be decreased and productivity of concerned informal organization may be increased. The maintenance and evaluation part will start after the application of intervention. Maintenance depends on the acceptability of the intervention. Again acceptability is the outcome of behavioral approach of the users. This behavioral approach may be considered as the market demand or societal demand. This will vary according to the socio economic status of the user. So, everyone should be more precise and judgmental during the selection, application and maintenance of interventions. Materials and Methods: Ergonomic interventions are commonly classified as engineering, administrative or behavioral. Engineering interventions are physical manipulations of hazards whereas administrative interventions concentrate on changing the design of the job. Behavioral interventions focus on the individual worker’s behaviors or capacity. For the present research, workers from five different informal sectors were randomly selected. A detailed questionnaire study was done to find out the reasons behind the prevalence of MSDs among these workers. On the basis of the response, a strategic plan was drawn on the implementation of interventions for the prevention of WMSDs. A post intervention study was formulated to find out the effect of the implemented interventions. There are many possible outcomes by which ergonomic interventions may be evaluated. In the present investigation, efficacy was determined under ideal conditions on selected groups in real field study. Results: From the result of the study, it is observed that workers in the informal sectors are compelled to work in a low wage condition with maximum amount of physical effort and minimum amount of safety as they belong to the low socio-economic strata of the society and are deprived of the basic facilities enjoyed by their counterparts working in the organized sector. Consequently, these people perform strenuous manual tasks for prolonged periods and suffer from musculoskeletal disorders afflicting different body parts. For them Ergonomic-Interventions are the best solutions for the prevention of MSDs. Efficacy of the interventions are detected from the improvement of productivity, health and safety. It is observed that these implemented health interventions are highly efficient for preventing them from health, productivity and safety deprivation. Conclusions: It is concluded that despite various constraints, the informal workers of West Bengal are highly benefited by the modified low cost interventions.