The Usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Among Quarry Workers in Abia and Ebonyi State, South East, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Personal protective equipment is a lifesaving equipment which helps in protecting the health of workers. Quarrying activity which is an economic/money marking activity requires workers to be well protected due to the various activities in the quarry sites. Aim: The aim of this work is to assess the usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among quarry workers in Abia and Ebonyi States, South East, Nigeria. Method: A cross sectional study on the usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among the quarry workers in Abia and Ebonyi State, South East Nigeria was conducted between May 2019 to June 2021 with the aim of determining the usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among the quarry workers and to know if their level of education influences their use of PPE. Interviewing of workers with well-structured questionnaires was used for the study. The study population consists of seven registered quarries in both states. The multi-stage random sampling technique was employed in the study. The first stage was the selection of quarry sites, in which seven quarry sites were randomly selected through balloting. In the second stage, a total number of 406 quarry workers were selected for the study. Data was collected using a well-structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20, percentages and mean were also used. Results: On the usage of personal protective equipment (PPE) by respondents, the result shows that 20.1% (49) out of 246 quarry workers in Ebonyi state use their PPE while 13.0% (21) out of 162 workers use theirs in Abia State. 61.2% (30) in Ebonyi and 7.4% (15) in Abia always used PPE regularly, 38.8% (19) and 28.6% (6) said “sometimes.” 46.9% (23) and 42.9% (9) in both states used nose masks, 22.5% (11) and 9.5% (2) helmets, 18.4% (9) and 19.1% (4) boots, glove users amounted to 8.2% (4) and 4.3% (3) in both states, 4.1% (3) and 4.3% (13) in Abia used body overall respectively. On the usage of PPE based on the level of education, it was found that among those with no formal education, 11.4% used PPE while working and 19.6% do not use it, 25.7% of those with primary education did while 48.8% did not. Among those with secondary and tertiary education 34.6% and 24.3% utilized PPE while 28.3% and 3.3% did not use PPE. This study found a statistically significant association between level of education and usage of personal protective equipment in both States (p= 0.0231). Conclusion: Information obtained from the study revealed that the majority of quarry workers in Abia and Ebonyi state knew that their job exposes them to health hazards. But there was a low turnout of usage among them. Despite these varying levels of compliance, intensive health education campaigns and provision of adequately subsidized safety protective devices for the workers by the relevant authorities will go a long way in improving awareness and compliance with use of safety protective devices and reduction of hazards.