Journal of Health and Safety at Work

Introduction: Because of some important advantages such as creation job opportunities and providing raw material for some industries, animal husbandry plays an important role in Iran. According to the work force statistics, there are considerable number of employees working in animal husbandries sections. However, there is few information concerning cattle husbandry unit sanitations and workers health and safety condition. The aim of this project was to investigate the health and safety condition of cattle husbandry units and their workers in Babol.

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Material and Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among all the traditional and industrial cattle husbandry units (n=52) in the rural area of Babol city during winter 2010. The data were collected from all of the active cattle husbandry units, and inactive units were omitted from the sample list. The data were gathered by means of tailor-made data collection sheet through an interview and direct inspection done by the environmental health technicians. The data analyzed using descriptive statistical indexes and Chi- square test, and p<0.05 was considered as significant.

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Result: The findings indicated that the mean value of years of work experience was 15.1±12.9 years and 30% of workers were illiterate. Immunization against tetanus was 43%. Only one fourth of the workers had health card and 36% had periodic medical examinations. More than 55% of the participants had not passed health and safety orientation courses. Almost half of the workers experienced work related accidents and 60% of the units had no hygienic toilets. According to Chi-square test result, there were significant statistical correlations between the level of education and years of experience by complying with some health and safety rules.

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Conclusion: Our results indicated that, more attention should be given to educational programs about health issues and a serious supervision of health legislations is necessary.