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      Prevalence and associated factors of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region, Northwest Ethiopia

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          Abstract

          Background

          Refuse collectors are at a high risk for fatal and non-fatal occupational accidents. This is more intensified in developing countries, like Ethiopia, due to physically demanding nature of the job. However, information on occupational injuries and related factors are almost non-existent in Ethiopia. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of occupational injuries and its associated factors.

          Methods

          A cross-sectional study was conducted among municipal solid waste collectors in four zones of Amhara region from February to May 2015. Computer generated simple random sampling technique was used to select the samples. Interviewer administrated questionnaires were used for the data collection process. Binary logistic regression was used to assess the association between outcome variables and explanatory variables.

          Results

          In this study, the annual prevalence of at least one occupational injury among solid waste workers was 34.3 % (95 % CI: 29.52, 39.10). Of these, 50.7 % of them were visited health facility to receive health care. The independent predictors of at least one occupational injury were shorter service years, low monthly salary, history of job related stress, and sleeping disturbance related to the job. Being illiterate, having lower monthly income, and those who reported sleeping disturbance were significantly and positively associated with severe occupational injuries of solid waste collectors.

          Conclusion

          The magnitude of occupational injuries among municipal solid waste collectors is lower than other similar studies conducted in Ethiopia. Based on the finding of this and other studies, job rotation among work components, improvement of employees’ income, job specific guideline regarding maximum production limits, and replacement of bags and bins with wheeled containers are an interventions expected to cope with the problem. There is also a need of specific periodic health surveillance (PHS) for refuse collectors to detect early signs of work related complaints and to monitor work ability.

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          Most cited references22

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          Sleep problems and work injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

          Sleep problems are a potential risk factor for work injuries but the extent of the risk is unclear. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the effect of sleep problems on work injuries.
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            Relationships of working conditions and individual characteristics to occupational injuries: a case-control study in coal miners.

            This study assessed the relationship of age, poor perception of working condition, poor safety environment, poor management and supervision, risk-taking behavior, emotional instability, negative job involvement, job dissatisfaction, job stress, and poor safety performance of workers to occupational injuries. This case-control study was conducted on 202 male coal miners with at least one occupational injury during a five-year period and 202 male controls with no occupational injury, matched on the job. A standardized questionnaire administered by individual interviewers was used. Data were analysed by the logistic regression method. For all workers combined, the factors with significant adjusted odds ratios (ORs) found were: 30-45 and >45 yr age groups (OR vs. <30 yr age group: 1.80, 95% CI 1.02-3.17 and 2.59, 1.38-4.85 respectively), poor perception of working conditions (1.61, CI 1.00-3.18), emotional instability (2.33, 1.04-5.22), job stress (1.83, 1.00-3.46) and poor safety performance of workers (3.10, 1.45-6.63). No significant interaction was found between these risk factors and the job. It was concluded that older age, poor perception of work conditions, poor work environment, and human behavioral factors played significant roles in occupational injuries. This information would help in implementing preventive programs to improve working conditions and management quality and to help the workers to develop positive psychological traits, but workers with negative traits such as emotional instability and older workers should be employed in less demanding jobs.
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              Health and safety in waste collection: Towards evidence-based worker health surveillance.

              Waste collectors around the world are at risk for work-related disorders and injuries. The aim of this study was to assess work demands, acute physiologic responses, illnesses, and injuries as a starting point for worker health surveillance (WHS). A systematic search was performed in PubMed and Embase on work demands, acute bodily responses, health, and injuries. A quality assessment and evidence synthesis was performed. From a total of 379 retrieved studies, 50 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Waste collecting varied from informal manual gathering to semi-automated systems. Most studies ("number of studies") on work demands and/or acute bodily responses addressed bioaerosols (14). Studies of health effects addressed respiratory complaints (8), and those on injuries addressed acute musculoskeletal disorders (3). Strong evidence is available that exposure to bioaerosols exceeds recommendations. Moderate evidence is available for an increased risk of respiratory complaints and musculoskeletal injuries, with significant odds ratios reported varying between 1.9-4.1 and 1.5-3.3, respectively. Limited evidence exists for gastrointestinal disorders and hearing loss. WHS in waste collection is warranted for early detection of respiratory, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal disorders, and hearing loss. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                debassu1991@gmail.com
                zewdie1984@gmail.com
                kedirymam331@gmail.com
                fentadese760@yahoo.com
                Journal
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BMC Public Health
                BioMed Central (London )
                1471-2458
                24 August 2016
                24 August 2016
                2016
                : 16
                : 1
                : 862
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Health Extension Program, Debre Markos Town Health Bureau, Debre Markos, Ethiopia
                [2 ]Department of Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Debre Markos University, PO Box 269, Debre Markos, Ethiopia
                Article
                3483
                10.1186/s12889-016-3483-1
                4995673
                27554260
                911ba8fe-7bc8-44d9-b0c9-65930464036d
                © The Author(s). 2016

                Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

                History
                : 25 November 2015
                : 11 August 2016
                Categories
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                © The Author(s) 2016

                Public health
                occupational injuries,municipal solid waste workers
                Public health
                occupational injuries, municipal solid waste workers

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