Assessing the Prevalence of Occupational Injury and its Association With Utilization of Personal Protective Equipment Among Workers in Large Scale Metal Manufacturing Factories, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2017-03
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: The risk of occupational diseases and injury is increasing from time to time that
has become the most prevalent and major public health problem in the world. Globally, there are
271 million work related injuries, and 2 million work-related deaths per year. Metal and
engineering industries are identified as one of the five priorities sector by the government of
Ethiopia, which is expanding in diversity and number. Work related injuries have become public
health importance among industrial workers in Ethiopia. Personal protective equipment are
belived to prevent the occurance of injuries. Studies on the prevalence of injury and its
association with PPE utilization among metal workers in Ethiopia is limited.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of injury and its association with
the personal protective equipment among workers in large scale metal manufacturing factories in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from Auguest to October, 2016.
Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was carried out among 588 metal workers
engaged in metal manufacturing factories in Addis Ababa. Five metal manufacturing factories
were selected based on their long year service and existing total number of workers. Data was
collected by trained data collectors using pretested Amharic version questionnaire through face
to face interview. Observation and FGD was done by using Observation check list and FGD
guide. The raw data was entered using Epi Info version7 then exported to SPSS version 20 for
descriptive statsitcs, bivariate & multivariate analysis. Statistical signficance of 0.05 was
considered.
Results: The prevalence of occupational injury in one year was 49.9% [95%CI:45.8-53.9]. There
were 18 reports with disability from one factory in one year. Respondents age range of 18 to 30
years [AOR=0.42; 95%CI:0.186-0.950], attending primary school [AOR=5.64; 95%CI: 3.049-
10.430] and secondary school [AOR=4.20; 95%CI: 2.567-6.883], work experience of less than
11 years [AOR=3.62; 95%CI: 1.214-10.824], those who had 11 to 20 years work experience
[AOR=7.878; 95%CI: 2.596-23.904], workers with no job stress [AOR=0.38; 95%CI: 0.219-
0.668] and workers who didn’t use PPE were [AOR=4.84; 95%CI: 2.929-8.012] found to have a
statistically significant association with work related injury as compared to their reference
categories.
Conclusion and recommendation: This study concludes that the prevalence of occupational
injury among metal workers was high as compared with the studies done in Addis Ababa metal
factories and Mekele small scale industries. The study also showed that respondent’s age,
educational status, work experience, job stress and PPE use were the significant variables
associated with work related injury. There should be quality and adequate supply of PPE for all
metal workers. Safety education for metal workers and program based supervision in metal
factories is essential.
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Public Health