Factors affecting healthy life style behaviors in workers working at a tea factory

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of the present study was to determine educational level of the workers of a tea factory on occupational health and safety and to reveal the factors affecting a healthy lifestyle.Methods: The present descriptive research was carried out in a tea factory where 352 workers are employed between December 2016 and January 2017. 303 volunteer workers were enrolled into the study and a questionnaire form including topics of sociodemographic characteristics, occupational health and safety (OHS) implementations, health state and working conditions that was developed through literature information as well as Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale (HLBS) were used for data analysis. Results: Age average of the workers who were all male was 39.88±5.53. Among the workers, 70.29% were elementary school graduate and more than half of the participants (62.70%) have a middle income (500-1,000 USD). Mean score of HLBS scale was 118.00±20.28 points. Average score of the sub-topics was the highest in health responsibility item with 22.06 points whereas the lowest score was detected in physical activity sub-topic. It was detected that 64.69% of the workers had an occupational health and safety training at least once during their lifetime and 21.78% use a protective equipment. Rate of exposure to work-related accidents was detected as 10.57%.