Cargando…

Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa

In South Africa, waste pickers play a significant role in the management of waste at landfill sites. Waste picking is an income-generating venture for most people with low-income base. The activity of sorting waste at landfill sites is, however, associated with occupational health risks to waste pic...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Uhunamure, Solomon E., Edokpayi, Joshua N., Shale, Karabo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8424242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34512770
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5530064
_version_ 1783749635065511936
author Uhunamure, Solomon E.
Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Shale, Karabo
author_facet Uhunamure, Solomon E.
Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Shale, Karabo
author_sort Uhunamure, Solomon E.
collection PubMed
description In South Africa, waste pickers play a significant role in the management of waste at landfill sites. Waste picking is an income-generating venture for most people with low-income base. The activity of sorting waste at landfill sites is, however, associated with occupational health risks to waste pickers which this study has examined. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey with a convenience sampling method which was conducted among 114 waste pickers in three landfill sites in Limpopo Province of South Africa. A validated questionnaire was used in eliciting responses from the participants. The statistical technique employed includes the ANOVA, simple, and multiple regression. The results indicated that, in the last one year, waste pickers exposed to landfill sites were 1.7 times more likely to develop a common health disorder (AOR: 1.733; 95% CI: 1.069, 2.755; P value: 0.041). There was statistical significance between the number of days worked at the landfill and the health conditions of the waste pickers (P ≤ 0.001). The cofounders were adjusted for age and years worked, and the result revealed that days worked by the waste pickers' increased their chances of occupational health risks by 1.4 times. It is unlikely that waste pickers will have a risk-free environment, but supportive policies such as provision of adequate personal protective equipment and more awareness programmes on the health risks related to such enterprises will aid in abating the associated risks.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8424242
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Hindawi
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-84242422021-09-09 Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa Uhunamure, Solomon E. Edokpayi, Joshua N. Shale, Karabo J Environ Public Health Research Article In South Africa, waste pickers play a significant role in the management of waste at landfill sites. Waste picking is an income-generating venture for most people with low-income base. The activity of sorting waste at landfill sites is, however, associated with occupational health risks to waste pickers which this study has examined. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey with a convenience sampling method which was conducted among 114 waste pickers in three landfill sites in Limpopo Province of South Africa. A validated questionnaire was used in eliciting responses from the participants. The statistical technique employed includes the ANOVA, simple, and multiple regression. The results indicated that, in the last one year, waste pickers exposed to landfill sites were 1.7 times more likely to develop a common health disorder (AOR: 1.733; 95% CI: 1.069, 2.755; P value: 0.041). There was statistical significance between the number of days worked at the landfill and the health conditions of the waste pickers (P ≤ 0.001). The cofounders were adjusted for age and years worked, and the result revealed that days worked by the waste pickers' increased their chances of occupational health risks by 1.4 times. It is unlikely that waste pickers will have a risk-free environment, but supportive policies such as provision of adequate personal protective equipment and more awareness programmes on the health risks related to such enterprises will aid in abating the associated risks. Hindawi 2021-08-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8424242/ /pubmed/34512770 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5530064 Text en Copyright © 2021 Solomon E. Uhunamure et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Uhunamure, Solomon E.
Edokpayi, Joshua N.
Shale, Karabo
Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title_full Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title_fullStr Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title_full_unstemmed Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title_short Occupational Health Risk of Waste Pickers: A Case Study of Northern Region of South Africa
title_sort occupational health risk of waste pickers: a case study of northern region of south africa
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8424242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34512770
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2021/5530064
work_keys_str_mv AT uhunamuresolomone occupationalhealthriskofwastepickersacasestudyofnorthernregionofsouthafrica
AT edokpayijoshuan occupationalhealthriskofwastepickersacasestudyofnorthernregionofsouthafrica
AT shalekarabo occupationalhealthriskofwastepickersacasestudyofnorthernregionofsouthafrica