Introduction This ‘Health and productivity’ project was implemented to identify priority health problems and health related productivity loss in a large automobile industry in India. It hopes to re-emphasize that ‘OH department’ is a partner in productivity.

Objectives

1. To estimate prevalence, incidence rates , trends and risk for health problems among employees (year 2010–14)

2. To identify leading causes of hospitalization and out–patient care among employees (year 2010–14).

3. To quantify loss in productive work time attributed to health related absence in year 2014 and forecast to year 2025

Methods A five year records analysis (2010–14) was conducted in a leading automobile industry in year 2015–16. Data was pooled from clinic visit records, annual medical examination , insurance claims and leave records, systematically using employee ID. Trends and incidence rates of leading health risks were computed per 1000 person-months of employment. Leading causes and trends in out-patient and in-patient care of employees were determined. Total work time (man-hours) was computed and health related loss in work-time was derived. Cox-regression was used to assess risk between work department and morbidity. ARIMA method was used to forecast productivity loss till year 2025.

Results Between 2010–14, overweight and hypertension were identified as leading health risks. Respiratory, musculoskeletal and digestive disorders were leading causes for clinic visits. Infectious diseases are leading cause for hospitalization. Health related absence accounted for 1.87% of total productive time. Forecasting indicates an increase to 9.31% by year 2025.

Conclusion Health related absence contributes to significant loss in productive work-time. There is scope to reduce these losses by improvement in health situation. Our study provided key information and trends for planning evidence based health promotion programmes in the industry.