Occupational hazards among veterinarians of Kerala with special reference to physical hazards

Abstract

Veterinarians by virtue of their profession are exposed to several occupational health hazards. The common hazards faced by veterinarians during practice can be categorised as physical, chemical, biological, psychological and ergonomic. Albeit the hazards require much attention in safeguarding the health of veterinarians, there has been a dearth in comprehensive studies regarding this issue in Kerala. Hence, the study was envisaged to identify the physical hazards among veterinarians working in Kerala and to assess practices regarding physical hazards. A well-structured questionnaire was designed based on three group discussions with veterinarians and the relevancy of the survey questions were then assessed by experts. The questionnaire was circulated among the veterinarians working in the Animal Husbandry department using google form. A total of 399 veterinarians from across Kerala responded to the questionnaire used for the study. The results from the study revealed that majority of the veterinarians were exposed to the physical hazards while handling the animals for treatment (83.70 per cent), kicking by animals (82.20 per cent), back pain resulted during large animal treatment procedures(80.95 per cent) and injuries to lower extremities (72.93 per cent) and the most common procedure that resulted in physical exhaustion was dystocia (94. 73 per cent). The study revealed that appropriate handling technique was chosen by majority of the respondents (90.22 per cent) as measure to prevent physical hazards at workplace. As it is practically impossible to prevent exposure to physical hazards, continued education and training to a great extent can help minimise the physical hazard exposure among veterinarians.