Some aspects of occupational safety and health in green tea workers

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the health and safety conditions of 36 male and 27 female green tea workers who were aged 40-69 years and had worked for at least 5 years in green tea production procedures. The Mean +/- SD of age was 57.1 +/- 5.8 years in males and 54.4 +/- 6.4 years in females. The mean working career was 26.1 +/- 9.5 years and 24.3 +/- 9.1 years, respectively. The most commonly subjective complaints developed while at work was pain in the lower back at a rate of 72.2% in males and 63.0% in females. Regarding persistent subjective complaints, female workers had significantly (P < 0.05) higher prevalence rate for breath shortness (25.9%) compared to that of male workers (5.6%). It was observed that the male workers whose occupational career was equal to or more than 28 years had significantly higher prevalence rates for stiffness in the neck and pain in the arms, compared to those of male workers whose occupational career was less than 28 years. The prevalence of nasal allergy was 11.1% either in the male or female workers. The total rate of accidents during working hours in the male workers was 22.2%, and that in the female subjects was 18.5%. The mean frequency weighted vibration magnitude produced by using tea-leaf plucker was in the range of 2.4-3.5 m/s2. The mean equivalent A-weighted noise level while using the same equipment was 100.6 +/- 5.0 dB(A). The need for occupational safety and health programs in these small farm settings are discussed.