Occupational Health and Safety Assessment of the Industries in Bhutan: A Three Years’ Trend Analysis

Introduction: Workplace plays an important role in the lives of not only workers but also their dependents and families. Therefore, it is very important to consider safety and health in every workplace. However, the health and safety standards in Bhutan is still at a premature stage.Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the overall occupational health and safety situation in the country to better understand the level of occupational safety and health standards in the country.Methods: All the enterprises in Bhutan, who had constituted a health and safety committee in 2016 to 2017 were considered. Structured questioners were used for assessing and evaluating the health and safety standards at the workplace.Results: The study found that the health and safety standards have improved however, improved marginally with the higher percentage of improvement falling in the fair practice of health and safety at their workplace.Conclusion: The Department of Labour plays a pivotal role in taking leadership and educating employers, employees, the general public on workplace safety and health. Therefore, it is important for the Department to rigorously enforce the safety and health standards in the companies. Further, the management of the companies also needs to ensure commitment and leadership for implementation of workplace safety and health

Occupational Health and Safety Practices and Challenges in the Construction Industry of Bhutan: A Situation analysis

Introduction: The construction industry is one of the most hazardous industrial fields, wherein the construction workers are prone to work related accidents resulting in disabilities and/or deaths. The probability of fatality in the construction industry is five times more likely than in the manufacturing industry. In developing countries, construction work is ten times more dangerous than in industrialized countries. ILO (2016) estimated that of all workplace accidents, about 30% of fatal accidents occur at construction sites. Similarly, the construction industry in Bhutan accounts for 60% of total workplace accidents in the country.Objective: This paper will evaluate the existing Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) practices in the construction industry of Bhutan. It will also identify the challenges and problems faced by both the contractors and those attempting to implement OHS policies and procedures.Methods: A study was conducted involving 119 participants from several construction companies and government regulatory organizations relevant to the construction industry in Bhutan. Data was collectedthrough questionnaire surveys, interviews and discussions.Results: The study identified a number of OHS problems in the construction industry, including: i) Low priority given to safety; ii) Poor attitude of contractors and laborers towards OHS; iii) lack of competent manpower to enforce regulations; iv) lack of safety promotion; and v) poor health and safety management systems.Conclusion: It is concluded that the biggest challenge faced is to shape the safety culture through behavioral change, of employers and workers. Perhaps most important, however, is the education and training component - not only for the workers, but their managers and supervisors, who must be heldaccountable for workplace safety

Risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in Bhutan: An analysis of the 2014 Bhutan STEPS Survey data

Suicide is a major public health problem globally. Data on the factors influencing suicidal behaviours that can inform prevention policies are limited in Bhutan. This study used the dataset of the nationally-representative Bhutan STEPS Survey conducted in 2014 that assessed the non-communicable disease risk factors. Using a backward elimination approach, multiple logistic regression analysis accounting for the complex survey design was performed to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adults separately. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt was 3.1% and 0.7%, respectively. We found female gender, being unemployed, low and middle household income than high household income, and having a family history of suicide were associated with higher odds of having suicidal ideation. Younger age and alcohol consumption were associated with both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. While those from the middle-income group compared to those in the high-income group had reduced odds of attempting suicide. The findings can help inform policy investments for suicide prevention. Prevention programs that target young people, females, and low socioeconomic groups, and aimed to reduce harmful alcohol use can help prevent suicidal behaviours

Epidemiology of Workplace Accident among the Ferroalloy Industries in Bhutan

Workplace accident has a devastating and long term effect on the lives of people who are affected. Globally, workplace accidents are estimated at 317 million annually and 6300 workers die daily of occupational diseases and accidents. This study determines the characteristic of workplace injuries, accident frequency rate (AFR), accident severity rate (ASR) and leading causes across six ferroalloy industries in Bhutan. From the total numbers of 1366 workers, a sample size of 300 was considered and distributed proportionately among the companies and the departments within the companies. Information was gathered through face-to-face interview, observation, and secondary data maintained by each company. This study found that the workplace injury rate was 200 (20%) per 1000 workers, with over all AFR 62.45 and ASR 583.20 per million hours of work annually among the six ferroalloy industries. Out of 561 lost working days, 516 days were lost due to major injury with AFR 11.45 and ASR 540.20 per million hours work annually. This study found that AFR alone cannot be used as an exclusive indicator for predicting the occurrence of severe events at workplace. Contact with object and equipment (44.2%), fall from height (20.9%) and contact with the hot substance (26.7%) were three main leading causes of workplace accidents among ferroalloy industries. Comparing between the survey data and accident record maintained by each company, though it showed a similar nature, the frequency was found to be higher in survey data

Risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in Bhutan: An analysis of the 2014 Bhutan STEPS Survey data.

Suicide is a major public health problem globally. Data on the factors influencing suicidal behaviours that can inform prevention policies are limited in Bhutan. This study used the dataset of the nationally-representative Bhutan STEPS Survey conducted in 2014 that assessed the non-communicable disease risk factors. Using a backward elimination approach, multiple logistic regression analysis accounting for the complex survey design was performed to identify the factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adults separately. The prevalence of suicidal ideation and suicide attempt was 3.1% and 0.7%, respectively. We found female gender, being unemployed, low and middle household income than high household income, and having a family history of suicide were associated with higher odds of having suicidal ideation. Younger age and alcohol consumption were associated with both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. While those from the middle-income group compared to those in the high-income group had reduced odds of attempting suicide. The findings can help inform policy investments for suicide prevention. Prevention programs that target young people, females, and low socioeconomic groups, and aimed to reduce harmful alcohol use can help prevent suicidal behaviours

Correlates of sedentary behaviour among Bhutanese adolescents: Findings from the 2016 Global School-based health survey

2020 Elsevier Ltd Background: Sedentary behaviour is shown to be associated with cardiometabolic health including obesity, and mental health. This study examined the factors associated with sedentary behaviour among Bhutanese adolescents. Methods: The nationally-representative dataset of the Bhutan Global School-based Health Survey conducted in 2016 was analysed in this study. Multiple logistic regression using the backward elimination approach was performed to identify the factors associated with sedentariness. The analysis accounted for the complex survey design of the national survey. Results: The weighted prevalence of sedentary behaviour among Bhutanese adolescents was 29.12%. The multivariable analysis showed that higher grades, being a day student, consumption of soft drinks and fast foods, substance use, feeling lonely and suicidal behaviour were associated with higher odds of sedentary behaviour. Short duration of sleep was associated with reduced odds of sedentariness, whereas longer duration with increased odds. In the girls\u27 sample, higher grade, student type, fast food intake, physical activity, longer sleep duration, substance use, and suicidal thought were the factors predicting sedentariness. Among boys, higher grade, soft drink and fast food consumption, physical activity, short sleep duration, smoking and drug use, and loneliness were the significant factors. Conclusions: The results suggest plausible gender differences in the factors influencing sedentariness among adolescents of Bhutan. Gender-specific policies such as those aimed to reduce substance abuse, increase access to mental health services, and promote healthy lifestyles and behaviours are needed to reduce the adverse impacts of sedentary behaviour. Interventions targeting students in higher grades and day students may yield larger gains

Understanding Human-Canid Conflict and Coexistence: Socioeconomic Correlates Underlying Local Attitude and Support Toward the Endangered Dhole (Cuon alpinus) in Bhutan

Understanding human–canid conflict and coexistence must focus on documenting human–canid interactions and identifying the underlying drivers of reciprocal human attitude which enables appropriate strategies to minimize conflict and forge coexistence. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), Asia's most widely distributed wild canid, is highly threatened by human persecution and anthropogenic activities. Despite its "endangered" status, its ecological role as an apex predator, negative interactions with humans, and dhole-specific attitude studies are limited, thus hindering the development of a comprehensive dhole-conservation strategy. Here, we investigate the influence of socioeconomic factors of age, gender, income, residency inside/outside a protected area (PA), and other variables (cultural beliefs, livestock loss, and quantity of livestock loss) on the attitudes of local people and support for dhole conservation in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. We conducted a semi-structured questionnaire survey of 1,444 households located within the PA and non-PA from four representative regions in the country. Using R programming, we ran Pearson's chi-square test of independence to test the overall difference in the attitude and support for dhole conservation, followed by recursive partitioning through a conditional inference regression tree to identify its significant covariates with the highest explanatory power. Majority (79.1%) of respondents (χ2 = 488.6; df = 1; p χ2 = 412.7; df = 2; p

Multiple Sexual Partners and Its Associated Factors among Bhutanese Adolescents: Findings from 2016 Global School-Based Student Health Survey

Data on factors influencing multiple sexual partners that can inform cost-effective interventions are limited in Bhutan. This study examined factors associated with multiple sexual partners among adolescents. We analyzed the data of 7437 school-going adolescents from the 2016 Bhutan Global School-based Student Health Survey. Multivariable logistic regression stratified by sex was conducted. The prevalence of sex with multiple partners was 7.39%, with a much higher prevalence among males than females. In the overall sample, males, those &gt;15 years of age, who smoked, consumed alcohol, used drugs, exhibited truancy, and were unmonitored by parents, had higher odds of having sex with multiple partners. In both males and females, being &gt;15 years old, smoking, and drug use were associated with having multiple sexual partners. Alcohol use and truancy were significant only among males, whereas a lack of parental monitoring was significant only among females. The findings suggest that reducing substance use and enhancing parental support, and targeting males and older adolescents may yield larger gains.</jats:p