Browsing by Author "Tesema, Merihatsidik"

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    Assessment of Occupational Exposure to Lead and Associated Factors Among Workers in City Buse Garage in Addis Ababa,Ethiopia:A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study,2023.
    (Addis Ababa University, 2023-12) Tesema, Merihatsidik; Abera(PhD); Wakuma,Samson (PhD)
    Background: One of the most unusable chemical exposures that occurred in automotive garage areas was lead. Occupational exposure of garage workers to lead dust commonly poses acute and chronic health risks that can be prevented. In Ethiopia, there have been limited studies on lead exposure among garage workers. Moreover, it overemphasized that workers are more exposed than non-garage workers to lead exposure Objectives: To assess the occupational blood lead levels and associated factors among the Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise garage workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional design was used to examine lead levels in 36 garage workers and 34 office workers. A stratified random sampling method was used to identify the study subjects. specimens of blood and associated factors were collected by trained medical laboratory experts. A recent MP-AES device was used to measure lead exposure in blood. Excel and SPSS Version 26 were used for data management and analysis. Linear regression tests were used to investigate associated factors on blood lead levels in the exposed groups, while an independent t-test was used to compare BLLs between the exposed and unexposed groups. Results: The mean age of exposed groups was 39.0 ±7.5 years, whereas unexposed groups were 37.9 ±6.1 years. Majority of the garage workers, 26 (72.2%), did not know how they were exposed to lead, and 17 (47.2%) of the workers did not wear any personal protective equipment during work activities. The mean BLL (29.7±12.2) μg/dl of exposed groups was statistically significant as compared to the mean BLL (14.8±9.9) g/dl of unexposed groups. Occupational job positions of exposed groups did not statistically significant from one another. Of the exposed groups, 8 (22.2%) had high BLL than the WHO and OSHA recommended limits (40 μg/dl). The main significant factors that affecting blood lead levels were extra daily working hours (β =3.8 μg/dl; p<0.01) and long work years (β =0.8 μg/dl; p<0.03) Conclusions: The overall garage workers had high mean blood lead levels as compared to the office workers. Hence, it is recommended that the garage management should apply good exposure prevention mechanisms and should give OSH trainings to employees.