Expert: taking care of pregnant woman workers for the future generation

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Illustration by Feri Fenoria

UNAIR NEWS – Lecturer in Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Airlangga, Tri Martiana and a team conducted research on the health of pregnant workers. The study was conducted on 160 female workers in the industrial district of Sidoarjo district on October-January 2018 with the criteria of ever being pregnant and willing to take part in the study. The research location is Plastic and Jumbo bag companies.

Based on that research, the work environment can cause various health problems for women workers. Among other things, an unorganized company environment, long work hours, working environment, poorly implemented SOPs, and various hazards in the work environment can result in reproductive health disorders for a woman.

“Every female worker has endurance that could be different even though in general there should have been regular health checks by the work company,” said Tri Martiana

The problems of reproductive health disorders in the female workforce can occur from mild to severe. These disorders include menstrual period, irregular menstruation, infertility, STDs, premature babies born miscarriages, non-fluent milk, and others.

The study result is 38% of female workers have experienced menstrual cycle disorders, and 20% of them have more extended menstrual periods. “Women workers who experience pregnancy disorders say that the company does not fully give the rights that should be obtained by women workers,” she said.

Meanwhile, there are still studies there, as many as 78% of female workers have experienced reproductive health problems from mild to severe, 75% are exposed to noise and 78% work in rooms with hot temperatures. Noisy and a humid work environment have the potential to cause various health problems, both for the mother and the fetus.

The noisy work environment can cause health problems directly on female workers. A noisy work environment that exceeds Threshold Value (NAV) continuously can cause infertility, premature birth, and miscarriage. Besides, female workers are also at risk of hearing loss.

“Indirectly, the noise at work can cause impaired hearing development in babies. It still requires further data, “she said.

However, the Swedish Work Environment Authority recommends that pregnant women should be protected from noise exposure of more than 80dB.

From the various problems found, it should be able to become a joint awareness, especially for business owners to minimize various risk factors that endanger women workers. Besides, protection for women workers also needs to be carried out under applicable law.

“Maintaining the health of mothers of women workers who are pregnant or not pregnant, also means protecting the nation’s successors who will be born from working mothers,” she said. (*)

Author: Binti Q. Masruroh

Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia

Informasi detail dari riset ini dapat dilihat pada tulisan di:

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijphrd&volume=10&issue=5&article=267

Akbar Ratna Agustina, Martiana Tri2, Purnomo Windhu, Izwardy Ir. Doddy. 2019. Analysis of the Effect of Work Environment Against Pregnancy Disorders to the Female Workers in PT.X. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, Vol 10 issue 5 ISSN : 0976-5506.

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