Abstract

Rice is one of the most important food item worldwide. The dominant food crop of Bangladesh is rice. Bangladesh is currently the world's sixth-largest producer. High yield varieties of seed, application of fertilizer, and irrigation have increased yields, although these inputs also raise the cost of production and chiefly benefit the richer cultivators. The cultivation of rice in Bangladesh varies according to seasonal changes in the water supply.

Problems faced by the manufacturing, working conditions of rice mills workers (male and female), safety of workers during work, cost of production as well as the marketing system need to be studied. At present lots of people are involved with this type of industries in Bangladesh. Most of the labors are illiterate.  The training and development programs in case of labors are not in satisfactory level. Usually the workers learn by doing their work. The labors are not conscious about the facilities offered by the management of the rice mills.

Occupational health aims at prevention of disease and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations.  An attempt has been made in this research to understand the human resource management of rice mills including Occupational Health and safety practices of rice mills in Sylhet, Bangladesh.  Different aspects of human resource management practices of the rice mills including focusing on some significant issues of social, economic, and cultural life of those people. Special attention has been paid on the knowledge of the people regarding working condition and safety of work etc.

             The study includes studying various occupational health hazards and safety practices of selected rice mills workers of Sylhet, Bangladesh and future needs for improving rice mills workers social and working environment for both male and female. The result show a huge variance over the workers from different criterion. It is also found that there is lack of good understanding between the authority and workers.  High sound, improper ventilation system, dust, heat are the main hazards which bothers the workers the most. Fire prevention and safety knowledge is poor among the rice workers due to the ignorance of the authority. The study shows that initiatives are to be taken by the authority as well as by the government of Bangladesh.

KEYWORDS: RICE MILLS, WORKERS, ENVIRONMENT, HAZARDS AND SAFETY.