Assessment of physiological stresses on women working in standing type kitchen

Kitchen work is done mostly by females and it puts a lot of strain on them especially when working in a kitchen which is not ergonomically designed. A study was conducted in 2013 on 200 respondents in Ludhiana city to assess physiological stresses on the worker's body when work and workplace are not humanized for her. A self structured interview schedule was prepared, pre-tested and used to collect the data. The results showed that out of total time spent in the kitchen activities in a day, a woman spends 23 per cent time in curry making and pre preparation, 22 percent in dish washing and 17 percent in cleaning floors. She does most of the work in standing posture that causes a lot of strain on her upper, back and lower limbs. Majority of the women are facing problems of tiredness in feet, backache, strain on muscles due to long hours of work and numbness of legs and feet.