Occupational Health and Research Centre
Occupational health reminds neglected in developing countries because of competing social, economic and political challenges.Really occupational health research in developing countries like India should recognize the social and political conducts of work relation and as such as effective policies must to be frame and implemented.if so we can achieve tangible process in promoting occupational health and safety.So we must pay much important in providing safety and health awareness program for workers,public,students etc.we may also focus on the workplace and more on the workers in his/her conducts.
1.Health and Safety innovations in the workplace, with low-cost and locally relevant solutions, have been initiated in several developing countries. However, occupational health remains neglected in most developing countries under the pressure of overwhelming social, economic, and political challenges. The traditional workplace-oriented occupational health has proven to be insufficient in the developing world, and tangible progress in occupational health can be achieved only by linking occupational health to the broader context of social justice and national development. A striking characteristic of occupational health in the industrialized world, and a message frequently disseminated in developing countries, is the contribution of science to progress in occupational health through data collection, ongoing assessment of problems, and innovative technological solutions. Occupational health researchers in industrialized countries investigate the effect of work on health, depending on a process that translates their scientific findings into policy.
A case in point is the earlier National Occupational Health Research Agenda in the United States, which, in spite of an iterative process of consultation, still focuses on disease and injury, work environment and workforce, and research tools and approaches. In short, we are all aware that all occupations are associated with occupational diseases and most of the Occupational Diseases are not curable but preventable. In this respect, Occupational health research should be “mainstreamed” as an integral component of public and environmental health research and placed in its broader social and cultural context by addressing issues such as globalization, the importation of health hazards, women at work, migrant workers, and child labor, in addition to the narrower social and economic burdens of work-related diseases and injuries. It is said that prevention is better than cure. Thus prevention of Occupational disease is based on two approaches.
- Surveillance of the occupational health of the worker or monitoring the occupational health status of the worker.
- Elimination/Control of physical, chemical, biological and economical hazards in the workplace.
1.2 Occupational health surveillance or survey constitutes an important role to protect and improve workers health. Really, this is the systematic analysis of disease to detect early signs of work related illness. It is expected that a well defined occupational health surveillance or survey program will help us in the early detection of occupational diseases and to suggest control measures. Work environment monitoring also helps to recognize, control and evaluate hazards in the work place. Moreover, most of the current Threshold Limit Values (TLV) of hazards are based on western standards and may not perhaps be suitable to Indian workers. Hence, proper occupational surveillance/survey is the best way to make early diagnosis of Occupational Diseases and provide proper control measures so that health of the workers can be protected.
1.3. Occupational surveillance or survey forms only part of the function of an Occupational Safety Health Training institute-cum-Research center. It should be able to provide comprehensive Occupational Health Services to the workforce.
It includes:
- To provide Occupational Health awareness to management and workers through Occupational Health surveillance/survey for better productivity and social security.
- To accelerate rapid industrialization by protecting the health of workers through disease free atmosphere in the work place.
- To provide Occupational Health education to workers, supervisors and management in the hazardous environment at workplace to handle the situation.
- To conduct pre- employment and post employment medical examination to ensure that right person are placed in the right place; and also to have a data bank in the factory and department.
- To provide first aid training to the workers, supervisors and managers especially working in the chemical hazardous units and various occupational health courses like DIH,AFIH…etc for the medical officers of Kerala.