Awareness and Compliance to Protective Eye Wear among Welders in Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State, Nigeria
Oboh, R.A., Onwukwe, N.A. & Nwafor, S.U.
Department of Optometry
Madonna University Elele Campus Rivers State, Nigeria
Email: rolandoboh1@gmail.com.
ABSTRACT
Personal protective equipment is essential for anyone involved in hazardous or injury prone job description such as construction, wood work, metal and rail engineering and as such workmen are mandated to protect themselves from harm. Many eye injuries can be prevented by wearing the appropriate protective eye wear. This study assessed the level of awareness and compliance to protective eye wear among welders in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among welders in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Respondents were selected by simple random sampling. A structured interviewer administered questionnaire was utilized for data collection. Data was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics employing tables and charts. Test statistic for association of variables was done using the Chi Square test. The study involved 103 welders comprising of 101 males (98.1%) and 2 females (1.9%). The ages of the participants ranged from 16 -65 years with an average age of 34.92±10.13, with the 26-35 years group having the largest proportion of 40 participants (38.8%) and the 56-65 years group having the least with 4 (3.9%) participants. Majority, 98 (95.1%) of the participants were aware of the need for ocular protection during work out of which 65 (63.11%) complied regularly, 22 (21.3%) complied occasionally, 15 (14.56%) complied rarely and 1 (0.97%) had zero compliance. 50 (83.33%) participants with secondary school education complied regularly to protective eye wear use, 7(63.64%) participants with tertiary education and 8 (25%) participants with primary education. Majority, 15 (77%) of participants with over 15years experience complied regularly while only 7 (33.33%) with 1-5 year experience complied regularly. The most preferred eye wear employed was Sunshade, 57(55.3%), followed by welding goggles, 43 (41.7%) while 3 (2.9%) used Fancy transparent glasses. Conclusively, Chi Square statistics revealed that compliance to protective eye wear was significantly associated with the age and educational attainment of participants but not associated with their years of work experience. Keywords: Protective eye wear, welders. Ocular hazards.
