ABSTRACT
Occupational health is one of the unheeded public health concerns throughout the developing nations. Present study was conducted in the Poonch district of J&K, India, to assess the status of occupational health and safety practices among the workers engaged in the stone-crushing and quarrying sector. To obtain data, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 160 workers randomly selected from the stone-crushing units operating in the area. Regardless of age or work experience, the survey found that the majority of the workers suffer from a wide range of occupational health concerns, with respiratory ailments (74.38%) accounting for the majority of these followed by skin-related issues (63.75%), hearing problems (61.25%), headaches (52.5%), chest pain (44.38%), eye problems (41.25%), backache, fatigue (40%), and minor injuries (8.75%) respectively. Poor working conditions and the practice of not wearing safety devices during working hours are likely to be the causes of these health issues. Moreover, there was a lack of appropriate PPEs to protect employees at various working sites. The study recommended that appropriate health care and safety measures must be developed and implemented in this sector along with training for workers to minimize occupational hazards during working hours.
AUTHOR AFFILIATIONS
1 Department of Environmental Science, Government Degree College Surankote, J&K India
2 Department of Physical Education, Government Degree College Surankote, J&K India
CITATION
Manzoor J and Mir HN (2025) Occupational Health and Safety Practices among Stone Crushing and Quarrying Workers: A Cross-Sectional Study from Poonch District of J&K India. Environmental Science Archives 4(2): 531-537.
REFERENCES
Danna K and Griffin RW (1999) Health and well-being in the workplace: A review and synthesis of the literature. Journal of Management 25(3):357-384. DOI: 10.1177/014920639902500305.
Deng X, Zhang Y and Cui L (2020) Occupational health and occupational hazard control in coal mines: a comparative study. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 446(5): 052109. DOI 10.1088/1755-1315/446/5/052109.
International Labor Organization (2013) Health and Safety at Work: Facts and Figures.
Semban T and Chandra Shekhar S (2000) Impact of crusher pollution on workers in Trichy. Environment and People 7, Publication Society for Environment and Education.
Veera Prasad M (2017) Impact of Stone Crusher Industry Units on Rural People’s Health And Crops – A Case Study of Chiyyedu Village, International Journal of Current Advanced Research 06(09):5956-5962. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2017.5962.0841
Gupta Anjani (2019) Assessment of Stone Crusher Pollution and Its Control Measures. International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Management (5):167-172.
WHO (2012) Global estimates on the prevalence of hearing loss Mortality and Burden of Diseases and Prevention of Blindness and Deafness. www.who.int/pbd/deafness/WHO GE HL.pdf
Paneto GG, de Alvarez CE and Zannin PHT (2017) Relationship between urban noise and the health of users of public spaces—a case study in Vitoria, ES, Brazil. Journal of Building Construction and Planning Research 5(02):45-57.
Alves JA, Silva LT and Remoaldo PC (2018) Impacts of low-frequency noise exposure on well-being: A case study from Portugal. Noise and Health 20(95):131-145.
Swades Pal and Indrajit Mandal (2021) Noise vulnerability of stone mining and crushing in Dwarka river basin of Eastern India, Environment Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer 23(9):13667-13688
Bashir Sabina and Manzoor Javed (2022). An Assessment of the Knowledge and Awareness Status of Noise Pollution among the Residents of Poonch town of Jammu and Kashmir, India, IJFANS International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences 11(6):2703-2709.
Mathur ML and Choudray RC (1996) Mortality experience of sandstone quarry workers of Jodhpur district. Lung India XIV (2): 66-92.
Tribhuwan RD and Patil J (2009) Stone Quarry Workers: Social Security and Development Issues. Discovery Publishing House.
Manzoor Javed and Khan Mahroof (2020) Environmental Perspective of Stone Crushing and Quarrying: A Case Study from Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Current World Environment 15(1): 68-74. 10.12944/CWE.15.1.10.
Zenz C, Dickerson B and Horvath EB (1994) Occupational medicine, Mosby, St. Louis, 167–236.
Scott DF and Grayson RL, (2003) Selected Health Issues in Mining. Centre for Disease Control.Availablefrom:https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/userfiles/works/pdfs/shiim.pdf
Singh G, Pal A (2010) Environment impacts of mining on Bundelkhand region, U.P. Recent Research in Science and Technology 2(3):50-57.
Sheikh A, Rana SVS and Pal A (2011) Environmental health assessment of stone crushers in and around Jhansi, U.P., India. Journal of Ecophysiology and Occupational Health 11:107-115.
Sivacoumar R, Jayabalou R, Subrahmanyam YV, et al. (2001) Air pollution in stone crushing industry, and associated health effects. Indian Journal of Environmental Health 43(4): 169–173.
Semple S, Green DA, Alpine GM, et al. (2008) Exposure to particulate matter on an Indian stone-crushing site. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 65:300–305.
Narkhede V, Likhar S and Mishra MK (2012) Morbidity profile of stone crusher workers with special reference to respiratory morbidity: A cross-sectional study. National Journal of Community Medicine 3(3):368-371.
Sacks JD, Stanek LW, Luben TJ, et al. (2011) Particulate matter–induced health effects: who is susceptible? Environmental Health Perspectives 119:446–454. DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1002255
Mazurek B, Olze H, Haupt H, et al. (2010) The More the Worse: the Grade of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Associates with the Severity of Tinnitus. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 7(8):3071–3079. doi:10.3390/ijerph7083071.
Ilyas M and Rasheed F (2010) Health and Environment Related Issues in Stone Crushing in Pakistan, South Asia Network of Economic Research Institute, pp.10-18.
Iftikhar B, Khan MH, Hussain H, et al. (2009) Relationship between silica dust exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in workers of dust generating industries of district Peshawar. Gomal Journal of Medical Sciences 7(1):46–50.
Nwibo N and Ugwuja EI (2012) Pulmonary problem among quarry workers of stone crushing industry on site at Umagouhgara, Ebony state, Nigeria. International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health 3:178–185.
Sivakumar RR, Jayabalou S, Swarnalatha, et al. (2006) Particulate matter from stone crushing industry: Size distribution and health effects. The Journal of Environmental Engineering 132(3): 405-414.
Upadhyaya U (2002) Occupational health, safety and environment in the construction sector. Issue of the World of Work in Nepal 289-295.
License: Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. Visit for more details http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.