Working Environmental Hazard at Home-based Workers in the Charcoal Industrial Sector in Semarang
Abstract
Home-based workers are workers who work at home for a certain wage without health and safety protection. For them, house is their workplace, so the hazards of the workplace and work activities are health risk for the workers and their family members. This research was conducted to identify the dangers of working
environment to the home-based workers in charcoal industrial sector in Semarang City. It also described the relationship of the working environment hazard to the experienced health problems. This observational research was done using crosssectional design with samples of 146 home-based workers collected using purposive sampling. The working environment conditions include the housing environment and work activities. The housing conditions of home-based workers who were not eligible include ceiling 91.1 percent; floor 57.5 percent; ventilation 42.5 percent and waste disposal facilities 97.3 percent. The working environment conditions were exposed with chemical hazard (dust) 39.7 percent and ergonomic hazard (non-ergonomic position) 59.6 percent. The types of experienced injury were 80 percent joint pain and 13.7 percent out of breath, whereas the more often work complaints were 41.1 percent muscle pain; 19.2 percent stiffness; 13 percent cough and 11.6 percent tingling. The dangers of working environment to the home-based workers in the charcoal industrial sector including the condition of the floor which was a risk factor for the occurrence of dizziness and headache (increased risk for 1.84 times greater), as well as twisting and repetitive movements risking to a dizziness and headache (increased risk for 1.48 times greater) and tingling (increased risk for 1.36 times greater).
Keywords: charcoal industrial sector, home-based workers, working environment hazard
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