Awareness Of Occupational Hazards, Use of Personal Protective Equipment and Workplace Risk Assessment Among Welders in Mechanic Village, Abakaliki, South-East Nigeria.

Background: Occupational diseases can result in sickness absence, economic loss, disability, or death of workers. Several studies have revealed that occupational health and safety practice is still low in some occupational groups despite their knowledge and the occupational health legislation. This study assessed the level of knowledge, Background: Occupational health service delivery, includes the creation of a safe and healthy work environment. The protection and promotion of workers' health; is at its infantile stages in the informal sector such as the welding industry in Nigeria. We determined the level and determinants of awareness of occupational hazards, determinants of use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and carried out a workplace risk assessment among the welders at the mechanic village in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional study among welders who work in the mechanic village, Abakaliki. A structured, pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to extract information on awareness of occupational hazards, frequency of use of PPE, health-related complaints amongst others. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were conducted at a 5% level of significance. Result: All the respondents were male with a mean age of 27.6± 10.1 years. We found a good awareness of occupational hazards in 60% of the respondents and though this was associated with being older than 30years (p=0.03), being an expert compared to apprentice (p=0.003), duration of work more than 5years (p=0.004), none of these factors, when modelled in logistic regression, were predictors of good awareness. Regular use of PPE was reported in 49.79% of respondents. Cuts, sparks, foreign bodies in the eye were the most common hazards they were aware of. Cuts were the most reported health complaint. Good awareness of hazards was associated with higher odds of sustaining cuts (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 3.1, 95% CI:1.46 - 6.69) and a predictor of regular use of PPE (AOR:2.6, 95%CI:1.12 - 5.88). The workplace risk assessment revealed a work environment not conducive to occupational safety and health. Conclusion: A good awareness of occupational hazards was moderately high, a predictor of regular use of PPE and not protective of sustaining cuts in the suboptimal work environment.