The study of relationship among occupational health hazards, personal protective equipment and health impact among waste collectors during COVID-19 pandemic in a municipality, Pathum Thani province
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/dcj.2023.42Keywords:
health hazard, personal protective equipment, health impact, waste collectors, COVID-19Abstract
The waste collectors are typically at risk of exposure to various health hazards in their work environment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the amount of plastic and infectious waste substantially increased. This cross-sectional descriptive study was aimed to study the relationship among occupational health hazards, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the health impact among 87 waste collectors of a municipality, Pathum Thani province during the COVID-19 pandemic from February to April 2022. Questionnaires were utilized to collect the data from the participants. The relationship among occupational health hazards, use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and health impacts was analyzed by Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. The results revealed that the exposure to high temperature, waste odor, infectious waste, repeated work posture, carrying heavy waste containers, work overload, and work environment were positively associated with skin burning sensation and rash (p<0.01, r=0.32), heat exhaustion (p<0.001, r=0.36), odor annoyance (p<0.001, r=0.69), fever/runny nose/cough/sneezing (p<0.001, r=0.45), lower back pain in the past 7 days (p<0.01, r=0.30) and 12 months (p<0.05, r=0.27), and anxiety/stress due to exposure to biological hazards (p<0.001, r=0.47 and p<0.001, r=0.83) with statistical significance. The wearing of face mask was negatively associated with runny nose, cough, sneezing and burning nose (p<0.05, r=-0.24), similarly to fever, runny nose, cough, and sneezing (p<0.05, r=-0.22), with statistical significance. Therefore, adequate and appropriate personal protective equipment should be provided to waste collectors during the COVID-19 pandemic and they should also be encouraged to consistently wear personal protective equipment when at work.
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