Context: Construction industry is one of the stable growing industries of the world and
in India it is the largest economic activity after agriculture. Construction workers are
at a greater risk of developing certain health disorders and sickness than workers in
many other industries. Very little research has been done on the occupational health,
hazards and psychosocial problems of these workers especially in Asian countries
like India. Aims: The aim of this study is to understand the occupational health
problems of construction workers — building and civil, to compare the morbidities
among these two categories of workers. Settings and Design: The cross-sectional
study was conducted at Kozhikode district of Kerala, India. Materials and Methods:
Construction projects were selected by simple random method and all workers
(N = 410) were enrolled as study subjects. Data was collected by the team consisting
of investigators, doctors and social worker using a pre tested validated structured
proforma. Results: Data was collected from 387 (94.4%) workers. Most of them
belonged to the young age group (26.8 years). The prevalence of past morbidity
like tuberculosis (1%), malaria (13.7%) and jaundice (10.6%), typhoid (3.4%) were
higher than the general population in both groups without any statistically signifi cant
differences between them. Prevalence of injury was higher among civil work group
(17.2% and 6.6%.) Current fever, respiratory infections, eye disease were higher
among Group I, skin and musculo-skeletal problems were similar. Conclusions:
Measures are needed to improve the work environment of construction workers by
ensuring availability of protective gears, sanitation facilities at the sites along with
an accessible, accountable occupational health services.
Key words: Building and construction workers, occupational health, skin problems,
water borne disease, work related injury