WORK-RELATED MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS AMONG CONCH SHELL WORKERS: AN UNDERMINED ISSUE

抄録

Conch shell industry is an age old sector of handicrafts in India. This industry provides livelihood to a huge number of artisans. These artisans show extreme craftsmanship through their unique pieces of work. The job profile of the conch shell workers depicts that the task of conch shell workers is embedded with risk factors for musculoskeletal problems. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of data from the occupational view point. So, the present study has been taken up to identify the different types of musculoskeletal problems among them and also to find the main contributing issues behind the occurrence of those problems. In order to identify the causative factors, physiological profiling and posture analysis are done. Factors like year of exposure, BMI and duration of working hours are significantly related with the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems among the conch shell workers in addition to these awkward working postures. In order to ameliorate the above-mentioned problems, more studies and implementation of ergonomic interventions are required.