Assessment on Occupational Induced Health Problems in Floriculture Workers in West Shewa,Oromia,Ethiopia.
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Date
2011-07
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Currently floriculture is a booming sector in Ethiopia; nevertheless, there is a serious
issue that comes in contradiction to the expansion, which is the workers health. As a result, an effort has
been made to outline the outstanding health problems that are manifested in some of the floriculture
industry.
Objectives: To assess the health problems encountered in the farm, prevalence of and determinant
factors and workers perception towards hazards and hazard prevention in the work place.
Methods: A Cross-Sectional both quantitative and qualitative study was conducted among
floriculture workers in Sebeta Town and surrounding areas from December 01, 2010 to February 30,
2011. A sample of 612 workers was selected from the farms roster by means of systematic sampling
techniques. Data were collected through pre-tested structured questionnaire, key informant interview
and working environmental check list also used to assess the working condition. Then, content analysis
was used for the qualitative data after themes were formed and coded. Quantitative data were entered by
using EPI Info version 3.5.1 and exported to SPSS for analysis. Logistic regression analysis was
conducted using SPSS version 16 statistical package for univariate, Bivariate and multivariate analysis
to determine the determinant factors. Significances were considered at P -value less than 0.05(P<0.05).
Results: Majority, 74.9% of the workers were females, there was no difference on the occurrence of
health symptoms amongst the different sections of the farm, with 93% of study subjects showing at least
one health symptom in the last 12 month prior to the study period, 67.8% had at least one skin problem
and 81.1% had at least one respiratory health symptom in the last 12 months. The highly prevalent
disease symptoms were fatigue (76.5%), followed by head ache (73.4%) and sleepiness (63.5%). A 3.16
(95%: CI 1.28-7.80) odds of having symptoms of disease was observed after adjusting for confounders
among those who did not have full Personal protective equipment. There was also 4.93 (95% CI 1.4416.91)
times odds of symptoms of disease amongst workers who did not use Personal protective
equipment properly, and odds of reported symptoms of disease were 2.75 (95% CI 1.15- 6.61) higher on
those who had not pre-employment safety training. Though, majority of respondents were aware of
hazard causing risk in the farm, they did nothing to prevent the resulting effect.
Conclusion: Prevention interventions were generally neglected, with only 345 (59.3%) employees
reporting having and (62.39%) properly using of personal protective devices. In view of this, adequate
supply of Personal protective equipment, pre-employment safety training and use of Integrated Pest
Management are highly recommended.
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Keywords
Health problems ,occupation