Occupational Health Issues among Police Personnel: An Exploratory Study

Introduction and Literature

According to WHO (2013) Occupational lung diseases is a major contributor of the global occupational disease burden and is a main focus of occupational health programs worldwide. Work-related occupational exposure to air borne particulates accounts for about 386000 deaths and nearly 6.6 million [1]. The bulk of this is contributed by Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (COPD) followed by asthma and pneumoconiosis. In industrial settings, workers are also found with respiratory symptoms [2]. The traffic police personnel are exposed to significant amounts of traffic related ambient air pollution, are detected for mainly chronic respiratory diseases like chronic cough, chronic phlegm, wheezing, Dyspnea along with decreased lung function [3, 4, 5]. It has been established that major share of the traffic related air pollution is due to the emissions from automobiles which in many cities of the developing world do not follow emission standards. Rapid industrialization and urbanization have aggravated the rising levels of ambient air pollution in the cities especially in the developing countries including the Asian countries. The most commonly reported respiratory symptoms associated with traffic pollution in children as well as among occupational groups exposed to traffic pollution include bronchitis, asthma, wheezing, breathlessness, dry cough and cough with phlegm, reduced lung functions and other nasal problems [6, 7]. The respiratory diseases due to traffic pollution get increased with time. The initial acute symptoms due to air pollution get worsen and cause chronic respiratory problems. Police personnel posted in the traffic duty are exposed to these pollutants for 6-8 hours a day. Those who are exposed to traffic for longer period of time have increased respiratory problems [8]. The traffic police as well as law and order police personnel are the worst sufferers because by nature of their job, they are continuously exposed to the toxic pollutants emitted from the automobiles. Therefore, they are more prone to like bronchitis, pneumonia, decreased lung function and even other health problems which include hearing impairment, eye related problems, etc. [9]. However, previously [5] did a comparative cross sectional study in Jalgon city, India among 60 nonsmoking traffic police and 60 healthy young adults showed 40% of traffic police had frequent cough, 10% had shortness of breath and 27% suffered from irritation in respiratory tract. Singh V Sharma, et al. [10] Satapathy D, et al. [11], Gupta s, et al. [12]studied that among traffic police in India also showed decreased lung function and its evident with increase duration of work period. Most of the above mentioned studies have presented their results on the basis of relatively small sample size ranging from 30 to 80. Karita K, et al. [13] did a study and found that factors like duration of work hours, years of residential living in polluted cities also contributes to the respiratory problems. Longer the duration of these factors more worsen is the problem.

In case of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) Lee, et al. (2012) [6] in his study discussed that back muscles act to support the spine and maintain the stability of the spine; weakness of back muscles can lead to low back pain and is known as a main cause of recurrence. Generally we found that people stand for long time from morning to night continuously, but the sitting or standing system is poor, most of the cases poor posture can lead to pain. The back is not supported; as a result their lumbar spine stays incorrect position resulting various ligament structures on full stretch. Traffic police have to do all type of activities themselves to maintain the traffic. These types of activity include lifting, twisting & repeated movements of the spine. As far as low back pain (LBP) is concerned, different officers arranged the equipment on their belts in different ways. Arranging the equipment anteriorly on the belt was associated with the largest increase in LBP. On the other side, the typical postures & activities of traffic police make them one of the most vulnerable groups of being LBP. They bend frequently, twist right & left, & transfer the standing systems of the traffic police are inappropriate, without back support Most of the cases the posture is too poor to cause the LBP.

Traffic police personnel are also found at an increased risk of noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) for the environmental noise exposure. Prevalence of occupational noise induced hearing loss amongst traffic police personnel and found that a very significant number (81.2%) showed sensor neural hearing loss [14]. Occupational noise induced hearing loss and hearing threshold profile at high frequencies and concluded that Prevalence of hearing loss symptom and hearing thresholds were more in exposed group than in control group. There has been a significant hearing loss at high frequency as compared to lower ones. Audiometer revealed notch at 4 kHz with less effect at 6 or 8 kHz, cumulative effect of duration of exposure.

In a study to assess the prevalence of hearing loss in police constable and officers working in heavy traffic areas 60 dB(A) and to correlate the hearing loss with duration exposure to noise. It was found that, tearing loss is very common in police constables and police officers who are working in heavy traffic zones [15].

Dennis Marcus Mathew also conducted a sample survey on effect of noise pollution on traffic policemen of Hyderabad city, carried out by Society of Aid and Hearing Impaired (SAHI), the findings of the study indicate that 76% of 45 cops screened, had noise induced auditory effects and among these had completed 5 years in traffic wing had hearing loss in various degrees. The traffic policemen do not use any personal protective equipment (PPE) and have varying degree of hearing loss due to longer period exposure to noise pollution. In Varanasi city about traffic noise pollution on exposed people, showed that 85% of people were disturbed by traffic noise, 90% of people are reported that noise is main cause of headache, high BP, dizziness and fatigue and interfering the daily activities [16].

Methodology

In this study, a comprehensive questionnaire was formulated to assess all the information regarding various hazardous parameters data was collected through questionnaire, with prior consent from the participants. The questionnaire included demographic description, questions relating to low back pain, respiratory problems and noise induced hearing loss. Demographic data details includes age , gender, address, height/weight, marital status, level of education, Current department of work, years of service completed in department. The subjective data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 17 software.

Conclusion

The present study concludes that occupational health problems are very common in police personnel. The results showed that prevalence of respiratory problems, low back pain and noise induced hearing loss was 64%, 68%and 46% respectively. The frequency and intensity of these problems is related to the physical requirements of the job. Possible risk factors include age, year of service, type of duty, working hours, working posture, improper use of protective equipment etc.

Recommendations

It is seen that lack of awareness and guidance of the tasks undertaken is the main reason for existing health problems. Police personnel should be educated on ergonomics, posture, working hour breaks in between work, use of protective aids to improve healthy life and performance in duty.

Ergonomic interventions are necessary to prevent the complaints of low back pain. The existence of a positive association between ergonomic problems and LBP implies that even modest modifications could result in a significant decrease in frequency of problems.