Abstract:
The legislations to deal with occupational health and safety have been developed worldwide, but the issue of lone workers has yet to be addressed in developing countries like Pakistan. Lone workers make a considerable part of our industrial workforce. They can be found either working alone or without direct supervision. This study focuses on lone workers in Askari, Bestway and Fauji cement industries where they are almost ignored in terms of their health and safety. The research is based on physical and psychological hazards posed to workers in both indoor and outdoor work environments. Lone workers in outdoor environment include quarrying, cleaning staff, operational staff and security personnel, while indoor environments include lab technicians, packaging staff, and silo workers. Almost 100% of identified lone workers are psychologically victimized by the loneliness they face at work. In Askari cement industry, 28.57% lone workers lack safety measures in the industry. In Bestway cement industry, 60% of respondents face health and safety issues and 57% of them have no access to safety equipments. In Fauji cement industry, only 21.43% of the lone workers are satisfied with the working conditions and 42.85% are provided with required safety equipment among work related hazards, mechanical hazards and skin allergies have been found to be at a very high level. Loneliness, depression and alarming noise levels are the highest risk posing psychological hazards in all the three industries.
