Safety and Health at Work Vol. 13 Supplement 2022
Occupational Ergonomics and Industrial Hygiene for Evaluation of Health-Related Hazards in Informal Sectors and SMEs

Safety and Health at Work Vol. 13 Supplement 2022
Occupational Ergonomics and Industrial Hygiene for Evaluation of Health-Related Hazards in Informal Sectors and SMEs

Occupational Ergonomics, Industrial Hygiene, Evaluation of Health-Related Hazards , Informal Sectors and SMEs

Introduction: More than 60% people all over the world come under informal sectors. In developing countries such as India the percentage is 85%. In India 80% of the labor force as well as 50% of GDP is dependent on different informal sectors. The International Labor Organization estimates informal employment worldwide to consist of 2 billion workers, or 62% of all workers. Informal employment constitutes 90% of workers in low-income countries, 67% in middleincome countries and 18% in high-income countries. Further, women tend to be more exposed to informality in low- and lower- middle-income countries, which makes them more vulnerable to economic shocks. These informal workers are bound to work in conditions with several ergonomic and health hazards.
Materials &Methods: The prime and first task of ergonomics and
industrial hygiene is to find out the hazards related to health and work. Several methods are used to investigate poor working conditions like analysis of working posture, identification of mental and physical status through questionnaire and checklist, and evaluation of repetitive motions. Temperature, light and humidity of a work environment are also taken into consideration when analyzing health and hygiene concerns in that work place.
Results: Poor postures and poor working conditions are solely
responsible for the development of different types of musculo-
skeletal disorders
Conclusions: Through these noninvasive and low or no cost investigations, work and health status of workers can be evaluated to
make a better work environment.

Somnath Gangopadhyay, Sayantika Das, Subhankar Banerjee and Souti Das

Elsevier Korea LLC

January 2022

Sri Wahyuni

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Safety and Health at Work Vol. 13 Supplement 2022