Occupational stress and health risk of employees working in the garments sector of Bangladesh: An empirical study

Abstract

The present study was conducted with a view to examining the impact of occupational stress on employees' health risk. A total number of 350 garment employees (114 supervisors and 236 workers) were selected from 25 readymade garment factories of Dhaka, Narayanganj, and Gazipur industrial areas of Bangladesh on a random sampling basis. Occupational stress was estimated using an ERIs modified questionnaire; when self-reported health problems, work related information and socio-demographic information were obtained using face-to-face interviews using a pre-formed questionnaire. The survey was conducted for 2 years from January 2020 to December 2021 in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Gazipur districts where most of the garment industries in Bangladesh are located. All data were processed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Decision Analyst Stats, Version 2.0. For analyzing data, suitable statistical tools such as two-way ANOVA, z-test, chi-square test, Pearson's product-moment correlation, stepwise multiple regressions, and descriptive statistics were used. The results of the present study reveal that the occupational stress had a significant positive influence on health risk. The findings also reveal that both the male and female employees perceived garment job highly stressful and risky for their health causes many dies and sickness, but it was higher among the female employees than their counterparts. Study suggests that due to major illness and diseases garments' employees are lacks of sound health that have to consider remedying for reducing occupational stress and health risk.