'Work adversity': Cabbies at higher health risks

Adverse work conditions are increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCD) like diabetes and heart ailments for Bengaluru’s app-based cab drivers, a recent study from Nimhans shows.

Health risks for this 1.6-lakh-strong workforce can also affect the safety of passengers and pedestrians, the study cautions. For example, it found that drivers working night shifts had four times higher risk of alcohol consumption.

The study measured the ‘work adversity score’ of 340 drivers of app-based companies like Ola and Uber, by checking factors like work hours and incentives, road crashes, vehicle ownership, whether they lived with family, etc. The results showed that 58% scored high in work adversity.

The mean working hours was 8.7± 1.5 hours including nearly four hours of night shift, for about six days a week.

Read | Karnataka HC stays 5% cap on service fee for online autorickshaw-hailing

The study then measured the drivers’ risk factors for NCDs such as unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and substance use. It found that drivers with higher work adversity scores had higher NCD risk factors. For example, those who worked more than seven hours daily had 9.3 times higher risk of tobacco use and five times higher risk of unhealthy diets, compared to those who worked fewer hours. Also, those who worked more than five days a week had four times higher risk of being overweight.

Those who had rented the cab instead of owning it, had 17 times higher risk of tobacco use.

The NCD risk factors, along with long working hours, is a ticking bomb for future cardiovascular diseases in this population, the study says.

It also found that 36.8% of drivers were staying away from their families, living and working in the cab. They are more vulnerable to unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and substance use, and likely lack psychosocial support from their families.

Dr M S Gautham, Additional Professor at Nimhans, who supervised the study, says that the results indicate the need for regular health checkups and coverage for this category. Currently no government or workplace health schemes cover them.

“The question is, who will address this? As the number of cab aggregator companies is increasing, drivers’ numbers are rising. And with their occupational risks, others on the road are also at risk,” he says.