Evaluation of Working Conditions and Percept？ons of Health Status in Seasonal Workers in the Forest Nursery

Objective: To evaluate the working conditions and perceptions of health status in seasonal workers in the forest nursery. Material and Method: Descriptive research was conducted between May 2017 and July 2017 with 60 seasonal workers working in the forest nursery. Data were collected by using the questionnaire including socio-demographic characteristics (10) and working conditions (20) of workers and Perception of Health Status Scale. Results: Study data demonstrated that 76.7% of workers are women, 66.7% had at least one chronic health problem, 93.3% didn’t do anything other than this job, 96.7% were earning 1201-1800 Turkish Liras per month. In addition; 73.3% stated that their working conditions are not suitable for their health, 71.7% stated that their work is too heavy for them, 92% stated that the number of employees is not enough. 65% do not feel safe in working environments and 55% stated that they were confronted with an accident risk. Occupational accident rate is 47%. 70% of the workers perceive health as “normal”, the mean score of perception of health was 3.0±0.57. Conclusion: Forest nursery workers have been working for long hours and for low wages in work environments where they do not think those are suitable for their health, they do not feel secure and do not have enough employees. The workers perceive health as “below normal”