Work Study and Ergonomics

Introduction

In chapter 17 work related physical conditions for the protection of workers has been investigated in small and medium enterprises, which explored that managing of various enterprises lacking within this concern. Before that, it is also observed in chapters 14, 15, and 16 that employees of steel industry were highly exposed to noise, dust, and heat stress especially during the extreme weather conditions in summer season. Thus, workers working in low resource settings were found highly exposed to onsite hazardous work conditions. The present chapter exhibits a case study which investigated the effect of onsite work conditions and physical activities on cardiovascular parameters of industry workers. This chapter comprises two parts: first part explains general background of cardiovascular health followed by methods to assess the cardiovascular functions. Second part is dedicated to a case study of comparison between exposed and control group, process wise variation in the parameters and effect of duration of work experience on the cardiovascular functions (parameters). Subsequently, it describes about the influence of alcohol, smoking and tobacco consumption on the cardiovascular parameters.

Statistical Tools used for Analysis

As mentioned above in the introduction that, for each type of parameter two groups of population were included: one group of male subjects (workers) from casting and forging firms, i.e., exposed group and another group of male subjects from the randomly chosen non-exposed population, i.e., control group. All the parameters were statistically investigated using the t-test and ANOVA for multiple comparisons among various sub-groups with a confidence level of 95 per cent. The results were also analyzed for association of physiological parameters with habits like alcohol, smoking and tobacco ingestion. The conclusions were drawn on the basis of results and analysis.

Cardiovascular Autonomic Control (HRV) and Work Conditions

The working environment of steel SMEs is very risky and unavoidable. The work-related physical condition and safety measures are ignored at the workplaces (Singh et al., 2010). It has been established by Togo and Takahashi (2009) that the occupational exposure to hazardous settings along with work related stressors, and work timing had been associations with low HF component of power spectral density. The workers are exposed to noise, heat stress, dust and fumes, etc. which are known factors leading to decreased parasympathetic activity (Shannon et al., 2001 and Fujino et al., 2007).