Working atmosphere in rural enterprises and its effects on workers’ health

The study was aimed at the working atmosphere in rural enterprises and its effects on workers’ health in selected villages of Dharwad Taluk of Karnataka state. The enterprises consisted of seventeen agro based enterprises. Data on drudgery experiences, metabolic discomfort and details of work stations were collected through interview with the help of questionnaire. The level of satisfaction of metabolic discomfort was measured on five points rating scale. The degree of work related drudgery experiences was analyzed in terms of rating of work demand, feeling of exhaustion, posture assumed at work, manual loads operative, difficulty in perception and work load perception on five point rating scale for each factor individually. Maximum metabolic discomfort was reported by the respondents involved in chilli pounding and weaving enterprises. This could be because of environmental stress factors like noise and dust and repeated movement of arms which scored 14.80 and 15.00 points respectively. Majority of men participated in technology related activities and women in cleaning of work stations of chilli pounding and vermicelli enterprises. Maximum drudgery in cleaning activity in vermicelli units and processing activity in chilli pounding was reported by the respondents. Women experienced maximum pain in hands and men experienced more pain in knees. Respondents encountered the major problems like heavy work, insufficient light, less chance for improvement, finances and lack of knowledge while performing the activities in chilli pounding unit. Hence there is a need for improving work environment of rural enterprises to avoid the health hazards and ultimately increase the working capacity, performance, productivity and improving the ergonomic gain.