Health status of traffic police personnel in Brahmapur city

Abstract

Health is not something that one possesses as a commodity, but connotes rather a way of functioning within one's environment (work, recreation, and living). The work environment constitutes an important part of man's total environment, so health to a large extent is affected by work conditions.(1) Though several types of environment exist, it is the physical environment, which plays an important bearing on health. Air, noise, heat, radiation, etc., are the main sites of environment pollution and this is more so in urban areas. Occupational environment too plays a major role on the health of the exposed. The health hazards get more severe when the duration of exposure increases. This fact is more important in situations as the personnel engaged in traffic duty. These personnel have to undergo physical strain in an environment polluted by fumes, exhaust of vehicles, use of blowing horns, blow of dust in the air by a speeding vehicle, etc. The personnel also pursue a near-sedentary type of work as they only stand at one place for long hours or just walk a few meters, only when necessity arises. The aforementioned factors pose as a health hazard. Still little has been done to assess their health status and suggest preventive measures for the upliftment of their health. A study was thereby conducted to assess the health status of the traffic police personnel of the Berhampur city and to find out the related risk factors so that appropriate preventive measures can be recommended for safe guarding the health.