Occupational Musculoskeletal and Respiratory Illness among Brick Kiln Industry Workers in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background:Occupational risk factors are one of the major causes of health-related problems of brickfield workers. The purpose of this study was to assess the occupational health illness of the brickfield workers. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the unorganized brick kilns in the south-central part of Bangladesh. Multi-stage probability sampling technique was applied to select brick kilns. A total of 220 workers from 10 brick kilns with one year of working experience were selected. A Standardized Nordic questionnaires and semi-structured respiratory questionnaire was applied for the collection of quantitative information. Results: The mean age of the workers was 39.01 years and most of them were male. The average working experience was 7 years and about 40% of them worked more than 8 hours in a day without any break of the week. A total of 140 subject (79.5%) had musculskeletal pain and 140 subject (63.6%) suffered from respiratory problems. Multivarite logistic regression model showed that type of working was the only independent predictor of both musculuskeletal and respiraory problems. Conclusion: The findings of this study revealed a high prevalence of musculuskeletal and respiraory problems in brick kiln workers. Brick carring was the most hazardous task among workers at brick kiln industeries.

Keywords

• Bangladesh
• Occupational health
• Musculoskeletal pain
• Respiratory symptoms