2014 Volume 90 Issue 5 Pages 183-189
In Thailand, labour markets are characterized by having a large proportion of the labour force employed in informal sectors that lack of well labour protection. The aim of this research was to examine occupational accidents and health problems related to working conditions in informal workers by focusing on taxi drivers, motorbike taxi drivers, hairdressers and tailors in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 300 informal workers were recruited in a descriptive cross-sectional study using self-administrated questionnaires. The contents of questionnaires consisted of sociodemographic characteristics, history and severity of occupational accidents, and health problems in working conditions. Our study found that the study participants had experienced various occupational accidents and health problems due to inappropriate working conditions. Despite the small samples analyzed, our findings may be a hint to understand the current working conditions and problems in these occupations. The community health system can be applied for collecting occupational health data in informal workers, and this may be the first step to overview the occupational health and safety problems in informal workers and will thus encourage further interventions.
