Printed in Nigeria PATTERN OF OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS AND PROVISIONS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SAFETY AMONG WORKERS OF KADUNA REFINERY

In today’s world man lives in a “chemical age” as there is hardly any industry that does not make use of and or produce chemicals in the work process. So every person is exposed to many different types of chemicals in their occupation or environment. This is one of the most serious public health problems today that has drawn the attention at both national and global levels. Occupational hazards are those material substances, processes or circumstances that pose threat to health and well being of workers in all occupations. Most often the exposure is to several of these chemical agents simultaneously. Of utmost important is for the workers to be aware of these hazards, guide against exposure and to use safety devices in the work place. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the pattern of occupational hazards and provision of occupational health service and safety measures among workers of Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Ltd (KR PC). Methodology: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study. All the industrial workers in the refinery constituted the study population. Cluster sampling technique was used to sample respondents in the 7 industrial Departments of the Refinery. Each Department constituted a homogenous unit from which the respondents were randomly selected. A structured open – ended and self administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Information sought was; socio-demographic characteristics, type of occupational hazards and exposure, knowledge of occupational safety and use of protective devices. Results A total of 250 respondents participated in the study. Most of the respondents were in the age range of 30-44 years. Majority of respondents (90%) were males, married (72.0%) and had completed tertiary education (78.0%) respectively. Majority of respondents (95.0%) knew and were aware of occupational hazards they are exposed to. These included chemicals (90.0%), noise pollution (64.5%) and machines (58.3 %.) Forty four percent (44%) of respondents have had injury in the course of their work. The commonest injuries among respondents were respectively cuts/lacerations (58.7%) bruises (15.6%), injury to the eye (6.4%) and amputation of the hand (1.8%). Types of chemical injuries sustained by respondents included gas/chemical inhalation (52.4%) burns (20.6%) and splash into the eyes (19.0%). Among ergonomic injuries, 64.5% had low back pain. Almost all the respondents (97.0%) were aware of safety measures in the workplace; and majority (92.1%) had had formal training on occupational safety. Most of the respondents (78%) admitted to regular use of protective devices. Reasons given for non-regular use were; feels uncomfortable (29.1%), makes work difficult to perform (25.5%) and no cogent reason (23.6%) Conclusion Despite the knowledge and awareness of respondents to occupational hazards and formal training in occupational safety, compliance rate is not encouraging. This deficiency needs to be addressed through public health awareness campaigns in the work place. It is further recommended that the inspectorate division of federal ministry of industry carry out periodic monitoring/supervision exercises in order to enforce adherence to and compliance with the regular use of safety devices. Through these, we can abate the occurrence of occupational hazards and injuries in Nigerian industries.