Assessment of Knowledge of Occupational Health Hazards among Formal and Informal Waste Collectors in Rivers State

Abstract

Study was performed to assess the knowledge of occupational hazards and safety practices among formal and informal waste collectors in Rivers State, Nigeria. A concurrent nested mixed design method was employed for this research. 314 formal and 314 informal waste collection workers were sampled for the study using a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a pretested questionnaire, observational checklists, clinical, laboratory measurements and a study guide. Data analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 to analyze the data collected from respondents. The finding showed that majority of the organized waste collection workers had an idea about the occupational hazards they are exposed to 206 (65.6%) compared to the informal waste collection workers 93 (29.6%) and the difference was statistically significant with p=0.001. This implies that only a few formal waste collectors and a little over ten percent of the informal waste collectors were seen to possess a poor knowledge of the occupational hazards in Rivers State. The poor knowledge and practice of safety precautions among formal and informal waste collectors in Rivers State would most likely expose the handlers to avoidable health problems. Though more than half of both formal and informal waste collectors had good knowledge about the occupational hazards and safety measures required for their job type. This finding is in consonance with the findings of [1,2]. More formal waste collectors possessed good knowledge of the occupational hazards associated with waste collection in Rivers State compared to the informal waste collectors. periodic training and retraining programs, including risk communication should be done by responsible waste management agencies for the formal waste collectors and by the government for the informal waste collectors, to improve the knowledge level of waste collectors in the state