Beta
20859

Awareness of Occupational Health Hazards among Street Sweepers and Garbage Collectors at Beni-Suef City, Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

-

Abstract

Background: Street sweepers and garbage collectors play an important role in maintaining health and hygiene in the communities. However, they usually work at risky environments that expose them to various morbid conditions. Objective: In this study, we aimed at evaluating awareness and attitudes of Egyptian   street sweepers and garbage collectors regarding the occupational risks they are exposed to and its preventive measures. Methods: In a descriptive study, 70 randomly-selected street sweepers and garbage collectors from Beni-Suef city, Egypt were randomly selected and approached through direct interviews with a semi-tailored questionnaire. Results: The results indicated that street sweepers and garbage collectors were aware of occupational health hazards and diseases, to which they are exposed and may encounter at work. Nevertheless, during the past 12 months, 41.4% of them experienced a job-related health problem. They sweep streets and collect garbage directly with unprotected hands and without using any personal protective equipment. Additionally, their attitudes towards taking preventive measures while working did not match their knowledge about their job-related health hazards. Conclusion: Street sweepers and garbage collectors should be treated as a vulnerable group that requires pre-placement and in-service orientations, health education, vaccinations, medical check-ups, with close monitoring of their attitudes and practice.

DOI

10.21608/jhiph.2009.20859

Keywords

Street sweepers, Garbage collectors, Occupational hazards, Awareness, Attitude, Egypt

Authors

First Name

Mervat

Last Name

Rahma

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Industrial Health, Faculty of Nursing, Minia University, Minia, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ashraf

Last Name

Ewis

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Minia University, Minia, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Tamer

Last Name

Hifnawy

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Beni-Suef, Egypt

Email

-

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

39

Article Issue

4

Related Issue

4131

Issue Date

2009-10-01

Receive Date

2018-12-07

Publish Date

2009-10-01

Page Start

654

Page End

668

Print ISSN

2357-0601

Online ISSN

2357-061X

Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/article_20859.html

Detail API

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=20859

Order

5

Type

Original Article

Type Code

511

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of High Institute of Public Health

Publication Link

https://jhiphalexu.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Awareness of Occupational Health Hazards among Street Sweepers and Garbage Collectors at Beni-Suef City, Egypt: A Cross-Sectional Study

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023