A Study on Social and Health Status of Scissor Manufacturing Workers of Meerut, UP

Background: Scissors manufacturing workers sector is one of the important but unorganized parts of industry in India. The scissors manufacturing workers hardly ever benefit from occupational healthand- safety provisions. As a result scissors manufacturing workers suffer many serious medical disorders. It is important to note that, it is the only sector of industry which is running without much research or innovation. Objectives: To study the social and health status among scissors manufacturing workers. Methodology: It is a community based cross sectional study conducted by interviewing 300 male scissors manufacturing workers of small scale industries of urban slum Meerut from July 2012 - October 2012. Results: In this study, 300 Scissors manufacturing workers interviewed, all (100%) were males, 78% were < 45 years, 96% were Muslims, 70% were illiterates, 88% were married, 70% were from upper lower class of Kuppuswami socioeconomic scale. The mean monthly income of the workers was Rs 2512 + 268.78 (SD) , 85% and 22% workers reported history of smoking and alcohol use respectively. Among the health problems, majority of the Scissors manufacturing workers suffered from respiratory diseases 79%, followed by persistent cough 40%, asthma 28%, tuberculosis05% allergy 04%, and COPD 02%. Other health complications found were musculoskeletal problems (25%), skin diseases (15%), eye diseases (10%) and noise induced hearing loss (04%) respectively. Conclusion: In this study, the variety of morbidities detected among scissors manufacturing workers, especially the high prevalence of respiratory problems and musculo-skeletal problems are alarming due to the smoking behaviour and hazards of scissors manufacturing workers industry.