Swathi H. N1, Priyadarshini N. J2, K. G. Kiran3, N. Udaya Kiran4
INTRODUCTION
The work of fishermen is considered one of the most dangerous and life-threatening professions all over the world.4 Many fishermen around the world suffer from fatal injuries every year due to harsh and dangerous environments. Hence, there is a need to know the pattern of injury and accordingly design preventive measures against work related injuries among the fishermen.
OBJECTIVES
ï?· To estimate the prevalence and pattern of work related injuries among Fishermen.
ï?· To study the usage of PPE’s (Personal protective equipment’s) among the Fishermen.
METHODOLOGY
A cross sectional study was conducted among 133 Fishermen in Four rural field practice areas of K. S. Hegde Medical Academy from July – September 2015. The sample size was arrived using prevalence of previous study. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 software.
RESULTS
Among 133 study subjects 125 were males and 8 were females. The mean age of the study subjects was 44 years. Majority (75.1%) of them had their education up to primary level. Around 92.2% of the fishermen experienced some or other type of injury in their life time. Majority of the injuries were due to cuts. Majority (85.5%) of the injuries were minor and 14.5% were severe. In the past 6 months 41% of the fishermen experienced injury mostly due to cuts and muscle strain. Most (58%) of the injuries occurred in the sea. Only 11.7% were using PPEs, 64.7% of them had insurance and 27.1% of them utilized the facility of insurance.
CONCLUSIONS
Work related injuries among fishermen were high in and use of PPEs were low among the study subjects.
