OCCUPATIONAL INJURY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG BUILDING CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN WOLKITE TOWN, SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA: 2021

Abstract

Background: - Occupational injury is any personal injury or disease resulting from an occupational accident. Construction sector is identified as one of the most hazardous sectors both in developed and developing countries. It is responsible for more than half of all occupational injuries and deaths worldwide. Injury prevention and control require certain evidence of the problem. Objective: - To assess prevalence of occupational injury and associated factors among building construction workers in Wolkite town, Southern Ethiopia; 2021. Methods and Material: - An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted in Wolkite town among building construction workers from July 5 to October 25, 2021. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 459 study subjects. Data was collected by face-to-face interview and using checklist. Data was entered using Epi-data version 4.4.3.1, and analyzed using SPSS statistical package for windows, version 25.0. Descriptive statistics was done to assess basic respondent characteristics. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors. Bivariable logistic regression was done to identify candidate variables for multivariable analysis, and multivariable logistic regression was employed to identify independent factors that contribute to occupational injury among building construction workers. Variables with p-value <0.05 were included in the final model. Result: - The overall prevalence of occupational injury among building construction workers was 43.02% [95 % CI: (38.47%, 47.69%)] in the past one year. Work experience [AOR; 2.05, 95% CI: (1.19, 3.55)], sleep quality [AOR; 2.80, 95% CI: (1.67, 4.69)], safety practice [AOR; 1.70, 95% CI: (1.09, 2.63)], work hour [AOR; 1.86, 95% CI: (1.19, 2.92)], and workplace supervision [AOR; 2.11, 95% CI: (1.29, 3.43)] were found to be significantly associated with occupational injury. Conclusion and Recommendation: - The prevalence of occupational injury among building construction workers in Wolkite town is higher compared to other studies. Factors like work experience, sleep quality, safety practice, work hour and workplace supervision had influence on occurrence of occupational injury among building construction workers according to this study. To mitigate loss of life and productive time, necessary intervention must have to be implemented. Therefore, programs to decrease the burden of occupational injuries should have to focus on promoting safety practice (including use of personal protective equipment, warning signs and safe walkways), promoting workplace supervision, providing training for less experienced workers, and monitoring employees working hour. Furthermore, interventions on behavior related factors like improving sleep quality of workers have to be considered.