Study the Relation between Accidents, Sleepiness and Exhaustion in Indian Textile Industrial Workers: Ajeet Jaiswal, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India. Email: rpgajeet@gmail.com.

Title:

Study the Relation between Accidents, Sleepiness and Exhaustion in Indian Textile Industrial Workers

Author Information (List of authors, Institute/organisation)

Ajeet Jaiswal, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India.  Email: rpgajeet@gmail.com,

Abstract:

 Introduction: Shift work is growing in modern society as an important tool for flexibility of work organization. The  aim  of  this  study  was  to  examine  the  rate  of  exhaustion  and  sleepiness  around  the shift and non-shift workers and its relation to occupational accidents.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on the workers of Indian Textile Industrial Group.   They included 148 shift workers as the case and 141 non-shift workers as the control.  A multi-part questionnaire including demographic characteristics, Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were applied. The X² test and t-test were used to measure differences between variables.

Results:  The mean of PFS scores in the two groups was significantly different (p=0.045), but the difference in the mean of ESS scores was not significant. Shift workers with the reported accident had a higher score on fatigue than shift  workers  with  no  accident  (p<0.001)  whereas  the  difference  in  the  number  of  accidents  in the  two  groups  was  not  related  significantly to the rate of sleepiness. The rate of fatigue or exhaustion  and the  number of the  work  accidents  was  more  in  the  shift  workers. Also, fatigue or exhaustion had a stronger relationship with the occupational accidents as compared to sleepiness.

Conclusions: It seems that evaluation of  exhaustion  as  compared  to  sleepiness  is  a  more  accurate  factor  for  preventing  work  accidents.

Key words:   Textile workers, Textile Industry, Shift work, Sleepiness, Exhaustion or Fatigue, Accidents.   

Understanding the term “indigenous”

Understanding the term “indigenous”

The term indigenous is derived from the Latin etymology meaning "native" or "born within". It is defined as a body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, which typically has common language, institutions, and beliefs, and often constitute a politically organized group".

Considering the diversity of indigenous peoples, an official definition of “indigenous” has not been adopted by any United Nation system body. Instead the system has developed a modern understanding of this term based on the following:

·         Self- identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member.

·         Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies

·         Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources

·         Distinct social, economic or political systems

·         Distinct language, culture and beliefs

·         Form non-dominant groups of society

·         Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities.

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples are peoples defined in international or national legislation as having a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory, and their cultural or historical distinctiveness from other populations that are often politically dominant. The concept of indigenous peoples defines these groups as particularly vulnerable to exploitation, marginalization and oppression by nation states that may still be formed from the colonising populations, or by politically dominant ethnic groups. As a result, a special set of political rights in accordance with international law have been set forth by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank. The United Nations have issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to guide member-state national policies to collective rights of indigenous peoples—such as culture, identity, language, and access to employment, health, education, and natural resources. Although no definitive definition of "indigenous peoples" exists, estimates put the total population of post-colonial indigenous peoples who seek human rights and discrimination redress from 220 million to 350 million.

Who are indigenous peoples?

It is estimated that there are more than 370 million indigenous people spread across 70 countries worldwide. Practicing unique traditions, they retain social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Spread across the world from the Arctic to the South Pacific, they are the descendants - according to a common definition - of those who inhabited a country or a geographical region at the time when people of different cultures or ethnic origins arrived. The new arrivals later became dominant through conquest, occupation, settlement or other means.

Among the indigenous peoples are those of the Americas (for example, the Lakota in the USA, the Mayas in Guatemala or the Aymaras in Bolivia), the Inuit and Aleutians of the circumpolar region, the Saami of northern Europe, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders of Australia and the Maori of New Zealand. These and most other indigenous peoples have retained distinct characteristics which are clearly different from those of other segments of the national populations.

HAZARDS OF WOMEN'S WORK

Regarding the health of women in industry, much has been said and some definite investigations have been made. The influx of women into occupations to which they were unaccustomed caused great concern lest the hazards of their employment be too great. Scientific inquiries have been undertaken on certain questions about which there has been much conjecture, such as: 1. What are the relative effects of the industrial poisons upon men and women? Some poisons such as lead and mercury have already been shown to be more injurious to women than to men. 2. What is the peculiar effect of bad posture upon women? 3. What are the effects of fatigue upon women not found in the case of men? 4. Do the hazards of heat, dust, humidity, devitalized air, and weather exposure react particularly upon women workers? Many of these questions have heretofore been considered primarily in relation to the child-bearing functions. However, this point of view must be extended to facilitate the discussion of other factors whose importance arises from individual and industrial effects rather than racial effects; but which relatively are of great importance in dealing with the situation.