Medical & Occupational Health, Reliance Industries Ltd, India.
Ind Health. 2012;50(3):167-71. doi: 10.2486/indhealth.ms1366.
India, a growing economy and world's largest democracy, has population exceeding 1.2 billion. Out of this huge number, 63.6% form working age group. More than 90% work in the informal economy, mainly agriculture and services. Less than 10% work in the organized sector; mainly industry, mining and some services. New service industries like Information Technology (IT), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) are increasing rapidly; so is the proportion of females in the workforce. The occupational safety and health (OSH) scenario in India is complex. Unprecedented growth and progress go hand in hand with challenges such as huge workforce in unorganized sector, availability of cheap labor, meager public spending on health, inadequate implementation of existing legislation, lack of reliable OSH data, shortage of OSH professionals, multiplicity of statutory controls, apathy of stakeholders and infrastructure problems. The national policy on OSH at workplace, adopted by the government in 2009, is yet to be implemented. Some of the major occupational risks are accidents, pneumoconiosis, musculoskeletal injuries, chronic obstructive lung diseases; pesticide poisoning and noise induced hearing loss. The three most important OSH needs are: 1. legislation to extend OSH coverage to all sectors of working life including the unorganized sector; 2. spreading the awareness about OSH among stakeholders; 3. development of OSH infrastructure and OSH professionals. Other issues include integration of occupational health with primary health care.
印度是一个发展中经济体和全球最大的民主国家，拥有超过 12 亿的人口。在这个庞大的数字中，63.6%的人处于工作年龄。超过 90%的人在非正规经济部门工作，主要是农业和服务业。不到 10%的人在正规部门工作；主要是工业、采矿业和一些服务业。新的服务行业，如信息技术（IT）、商务流程外包（BPO）正在迅速增长；女性在劳动力中的比例也在增加。印度的职业安全与健康（OSH）情况较为复杂。前所未有的增长和进步伴随着各种挑战，如非正规部门庞大的劳动力、廉价劳动力的可用性、公共卫生支出微薄、现有立法执行不力、缺乏可靠的 OSH 数据、OSH 专业人员短缺、法定监管的多样性、利益相关者的冷漠和基础设施问题。政府于 2009 年通过的职业安全与健康国家政策尚未得到实施。一些主要的职业风险包括事故、尘肺病、肌肉骨骼损伤、慢性阻塞性肺疾病；农药中毒和噪声性听力损失。职业安全与健康的三个最重要的需求是：1. 将职业安全与健康覆盖范围扩大到包括非正规部门在内的所有工作生活领域的立法；2. 在利益相关者中普及职业安全与健康意识；3. 发展职业安全与健康基础设施和职业安全与健康专业人员。其他问题包括将职业健康与初级卫生保健相结合。
