Industrial Health - Compensation and Maintenance of employees, Human Resource Management | Human Resource Management - B Com PDF Download

Industrial Health
The term “hearth” is a positive and dynamic concept and implies more than an absence of illness. The World Health Organisation (W.H.O) HAS defined health as: “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Industrial healths refer to a system of public health and preventive medicine which is applicable to industrial concerns. According to the joint I.L.O. / W.H.O.
Committee on Organisational Health, Industrial health is:
(i) the prevention and maintenance of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations;
(ii) prevention among workers of ill-health caused by the work conditions;
(iii) protection of workers in their employment from risk resulting from factors adverse to health and
(iv)placing and maintenance of the worker in occupational environment adapted to his physical and psychological equipment. The term hearth is a positive and dynamic concept and implies more than an absence of illness. The World Health Organisation (W.H.O) has defined health as:  a state of complete physical, mental, and social well- being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Industrial health refers to a system of public health and prevent medicine which is applicable to industrial concerns. 
The basic objective of industrial health is the prevention of disease and injury rather than the cure of disease. It involves a programme of health conservation and prevention of occupational disease

Importance of Health
Since a large number of workers spend a great deal of their time in an industrial setting, their environment is not usually conducive to a health life. Moreover, malnutrition, insanitary and psychological conditions and the strains and stresses under which they live, impair their health. “On the one hand , efficiency in work is the possible only when an employee is health; On other , the industry (in which he is employed) exposes him to certain hazard which he would not meet elsewhere and which  may affect his health. It is with the intention of reducing these hazards and improving the worker’s health that the discipline of industrial health came into being as a branch of public health in its own right.” The symptoms of a bad health are a high rate of absenteeism and turnover, industrial discontent and indiscipline, poor performance and low productivity. That is the reason why when industrial health programme are introduced, both employer and workers benefit. A reduction in the rate of labour turnover, absenteeism, accidents and occupational diseases has been the natural consequence of industrial health programmes. The other benefit benefits, which cannot be easily measured, include reduced spoilage, improved morale, increased productivity per employee and a longer working period of an individual.

Occupational Hazards and Risk
Employees in an industrial establishment are often subject to certain health hazards and occupational diseases.

According to Roland Blake, the normal occupational health hazards may be classified into chemical, biological, environment and psychological hazards.

Chemical substances, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrocarbons, ozone, sulphuric acide, acetic acid, fumeric acid and tannic acid, limes and alkalis cause injury when they are absorbed by the skin, or when they are ingested or inhaled. The results are often disastrous. Workers may suffer from respiratory diseases, skin disease, allergy, heart disease, cancer and neurological disorders, all of which often shorten life expectancy . The diseases or sickness may be chronic or acute, and it may appear after a long dormant period, when it may be difficult or possible to treat it effectively. Often, a disease may be difficult to diagnose because its symptoms are apparent at all.

Gases, fumes and dust raised by such processes as grinding and crushing of stones or minerals may be inhaled by workers and cause a serious injury, or even death. Coalminer often suffer from what is known as “black lung” disease. Employees in manufacturing industries are often expensed to such health hazards as arising from dust and fumes, while those working on lead or zinc smelters, often show indications of zinc lead poisoning.

Among the biological hazards are included diseases which are caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, insects, strains with their psychological concomitants of fear, age, worry and anxiety. All these affect the health of employees

Among the environmental hazards may be included radiation, noise, vibrations, shocks, and improper atmospheric conditions.

Among increase use of X-rays or radioactive isotopes exposes the workers in an industrial setting, to the risks of undetected radiation, and may cause redness of eyes and pain, genetic disorders, cancer, sterility or even death

Noise is another serious problem. Many manufacturing processes accompanied by such noise as is capable of impairing  the hearing of a worker, making him irritable and inefficient, and making it difficult if not impossible for him to hear any warning cries of an impending danger. It has been found  that a worker may suffer substantial damage if the noise level is above 80 decibels (1200 cycles per second). There may be temporary or permanent deafness, nervousness, difficulty in communication and thus loss efficiently.

Vibrations and shocks cause nerve injury and inflammation of the tissues of the tissues of the joints of the operators’ hands. A very low vibration-less than one cycle per second-is often encountered in certain vehicles, ships and airplanes, and this often encountered in certain vehicles, ships and airplanes, and this often causes motion sickness.

Among atmospheric  conditions are included such hazards as arising from inadequate ventilation, improper lighting, to very high or low temperature in the work place. Inadequate ventilaton and proper lighting impair vision, leading to the inefficiency which results from imperfect visibility, headaches or glare with fatigue and eye-strain. In host and moist conditions, heavy physical or mental work exhausts a worker. Fatigue and boredom, the result of long and uninteresting hours of work, create conditions of discomfort and consequent disability which makes it difficult for a worker to be attentive, which slows down his reflexes and often induces him to ignore certain necessary precautions. All these are capable of causing fatalities too. Excessive heart may cause burns, heart strokes, heart cramps and increase accident rates.

Occupational Diseases
Occupational diseases are results of physical conditions and the presence of industrial poisonous and non-poisonous dust in the atmosphere. Ram materials, products, by-products and waste products may, in the process of being extracted or manufactured, enter the body in such quantities as to endanger the health of the workers. For example, workers on lead (as cable makers, lead pipe makers, compositors, painters, plumbers, etc) are subject to “painter’s colic” or “wrist drop” disease which may result in loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, stomach paints, muscular and joint pains, anemia and intestinal disorders; and it might even cause death.

Similarly, the barometer and thermometer makers, laboratory workers and electric repairers, refers of gold and silver are normally affected by mercury poisoning, through long and continued inhalation of mercury vapour.

Protection Against Health Hazards
An industrial establishment should protect its employees against health hazards

i. By substituting a less toxic substance for the hazardous chemical, by isolating the process or by providing protective clothing, handing and warning devices, and by providing safety education
ii. By ensuring that firms using radiation in their manufacturing process insist that their employees wear badges which indicate the amount of radiation they have been exposed to;
iii. By controlling noise in factories, by segregating noisy equipment, by dampening vibration, or by redesigning equipment or by the use of vibration-absorbing material at certain points. The employee may be asked to wear ear-coverings or ear-plugs;
iv. By devoting adequate attention to lighting, temperature and atmospheric conditions,, by controlling dust, fumes and gasses, and by providing protective devices, clothing, goggles and shields.

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