Asian Journal of Home Science

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Occupational and Environmental Health Hazards of Women Workers in Cashew Nut Industries


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1 Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Central Agricultural University, Tura (Meghalaya), India
     

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In India cashew (Anacardium occidental L.) is mainly found in Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura. There are lots of cashew processing industries, refers to the conversion of raw cashew nuts in shell to its blancher graded Kernel form, so a large number of washer are involved in this sector. The labour intensive processes are shelling and peeling of brown skin where women are the majority of workers. They perform extremely tedious time and labour intensive work resulting in fatigue and drudgery. These labour forces are subject to the exposure of a corrosive anacardic acid during manual process of roasting, shelling and peeling. The cashew nut processing involves both air pollution and indoor pollution; the former burns away our planet Earth and the latter affects the health of the factory workers engaged in the processes of roasting, shelling and peeling. Therefore ergonomic intervention is required to improve occupational health as well as productivity of worker. Some precautionary measures can be taken upto prevent or minimize the air pollution and indoor pollution in the cashew nut factories.

Keywords

Occupational Health Hazard, Environmental Health Hazard, Cashew Nut Industry, Women Worker.
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  • Occupational and Environmental Health Hazards of Women Workers in Cashew Nut Industries

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Authors

Swapnali Borah
Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Central Agricultural University, Tura (Meghalaya), India
Koushika Lahkar
Department of Family Resource Management, College of Home Science, Central Agricultural University, Tura (Meghalaya), India

Abstract


In India cashew (Anacardium occidental L.) is mainly found in Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Assam, and Tripura. There are lots of cashew processing industries, refers to the conversion of raw cashew nuts in shell to its blancher graded Kernel form, so a large number of washer are involved in this sector. The labour intensive processes are shelling and peeling of brown skin where women are the majority of workers. They perform extremely tedious time and labour intensive work resulting in fatigue and drudgery. These labour forces are subject to the exposure of a corrosive anacardic acid during manual process of roasting, shelling and peeling. The cashew nut processing involves both air pollution and indoor pollution; the former burns away our planet Earth and the latter affects the health of the factory workers engaged in the processes of roasting, shelling and peeling. Therefore ergonomic intervention is required to improve occupational health as well as productivity of worker. Some precautionary measures can be taken upto prevent or minimize the air pollution and indoor pollution in the cashew nut factories.

Keywords


Occupational Health Hazard, Environmental Health Hazard, Cashew Nut Industry, Women Worker.

References