P-124 Morbidities Among Tire Manufacturing Industry Workers in India

Introduction The tire manufacturing industry is widespread globally, with a high demand for labor. Employees engage in physically demanding work to produce rubber tires. The study was conducted with an aim to assess selected morbidities among tire manufacturing workers in India and recommend measures. Methods The retrospective record-based cross-sectional study was conducted over 3 months. Data was obtained from periodic medical examination of employees and was analyzed using SPSS version 23, and Chi-square test was used to assess associations between qualitative variables. Results Among the 885 workers screened, all were males. It was observed that 8.1% had obesity with a BMI of 30 and above and 19.6% had deranged blood sugars with random blood sugar >200mg/dl, 6.1% had far vision defect and 15.5% had near vision defect, 6.3% workers had anemia with hemoglobin less than 11 gm%, 17.4% had deranged lipid profile and 12% had abnormal spirometry findings, 3.2% had abnormal audiometry tests, 4% workers were detected with uric acid crystals, 4% worker was detected with calcium oxalate crystals and 11.1% worker had glucose in urine. Discussion Tire industry workers suffer from various health problems notably, hematological and auditory and visual impairments, pulmonary function abnormalities and also non-communicable diseases. Conclusion This study stresses the need for regular health surveillance of workers to detect any deviations from heath along with information, instruction and training on use of appropriate PPE. Lifestyle modifications such as exercise and healthy diet should be inculcated amongst the workers to prevent non-communicable diseases along with good hydration during working periods.