Assessment of Occupational Health Hazards Among Class IV Health Workers in Dhule District- A Qualitative Study

Worldwide, occupational health diseases account for 217 million cases, and evidence suggests that many of these diseases are preventable. However, the lack of adequate knowledge and training in regulating the work environment exposes many workers to occupational health hazards.

This was a qualitative study on occupational health hazards among Class IV health workers of Dhule, North Maharashtra, India. The questionnaire primarily consisted of questions regarding knowledge of class IV health workers related to occupational health hazards, types of health hazards and health-related problems experienced by them during their work, the measures taken by them and the hospital to protect themselves against these infections and hazards, their awareness regarding personal protective equipment and vaccination. Informed consent was taken by health workers before filling out questionnaires.

The awareness regarding the risk of health hazards (P = 0.000, P < 0.05) has a significant effect on the training of safe handling of biomedical waste. Due to the unavailability of this training, most of the health workers were exposed to needle prick injury and sharp blade injury, 80.7%. Only 10% of them were provided PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for protection against communicable diseases by the hospital and 90% were shown to have unavailability of PPE; this will increase the risk of respiratory, blood-transmitted diseases.

There is an awareness gap between Class IV and other healthcare workers, which increases the risk of occupational health hazards among them.