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“Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana
Domestic waste collectors face major public health hazards that result in injuries and morbidity globally. This study explored domestic waste collectors’ perceptions of occupational safety and self-reported health issues in a city in Ghana using a phenomenological qualitative research design. In-dep...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180064/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682123 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116539 |
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author | Lissah, Samuel Yaw Ayanore, Martin Amogre Krugu, John K. Aberese-Ako, Matilda Ruiter, Robert A. C. |
author_facet | Lissah, Samuel Yaw Ayanore, Martin Amogre Krugu, John K. Aberese-Ako, Matilda Ruiter, Robert A. C. |
author_sort | Lissah, Samuel Yaw |
collection | PubMed |
description | Domestic waste collectors face major public health hazards that result in injuries and morbidity globally. This study explored domestic waste collectors’ perceptions of occupational safety and self-reported health issues in a city in Ghana using a phenomenological qualitative research design. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with 64 domestic waste collectors from two waste companies. The transcribed data were imported into NVivo 11.0 software (QSR International, Burlington, MA, USA) for coding, and a content analysis was applied to analyze all the transcribed data using the processes of induction and deduction. The consensual views from the domestic waste collectors showed the waste-company employers’ non-interest in the domestic waste collectors’ occupational safety and health. Poor communication from employers to domestic waste collectors and huge workloads were identified as the causes of the poor implementation of occupational safety practices, which exposed the domestic waste collectors to occupational health hazards. The domestic waste collectors reported that they suffered from occupational injuries, psychosocial disorders, work-related stress, and frequent burnout. The domestic waste collectors adopted coping strategies, such as self-medication, to deal with these occupational hazards, since most of them were not covered by guaranteed health insurance. In addition, the study revealed the non-compliance and non-enforcement of occupational health and safety policies by the employers to guide health and safety training and practices among the domestic waste collectors. In conclusion, the findings suggest that DWCs are exposed to occupational safety and health hazards in their work. Waste-company employers should extend welfare benefits to DWCs, such as health insurance and social security benefits, to ensure their security, health, and well-being. The findings could inform the design of intervention programs and policies to guide training and practices for domestic waste collectors. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9180064 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-91800642022-06-10 “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana Lissah, Samuel Yaw Ayanore, Martin Amogre Krugu, John K. Aberese-Ako, Matilda Ruiter, Robert A. C. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Domestic waste collectors face major public health hazards that result in injuries and morbidity globally. This study explored domestic waste collectors’ perceptions of occupational safety and self-reported health issues in a city in Ghana using a phenomenological qualitative research design. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were held with 64 domestic waste collectors from two waste companies. The transcribed data were imported into NVivo 11.0 software (QSR International, Burlington, MA, USA) for coding, and a content analysis was applied to analyze all the transcribed data using the processes of induction and deduction. The consensual views from the domestic waste collectors showed the waste-company employers’ non-interest in the domestic waste collectors’ occupational safety and health. Poor communication from employers to domestic waste collectors and huge workloads were identified as the causes of the poor implementation of occupational safety practices, which exposed the domestic waste collectors to occupational health hazards. The domestic waste collectors reported that they suffered from occupational injuries, psychosocial disorders, work-related stress, and frequent burnout. The domestic waste collectors adopted coping strategies, such as self-medication, to deal with these occupational hazards, since most of them were not covered by guaranteed health insurance. In addition, the study revealed the non-compliance and non-enforcement of occupational health and safety policies by the employers to guide health and safety training and practices among the domestic waste collectors. In conclusion, the findings suggest that DWCs are exposed to occupational safety and health hazards in their work. Waste-company employers should extend welfare benefits to DWCs, such as health insurance and social security benefits, to ensure their security, health, and well-being. The findings could inform the design of intervention programs and policies to guide training and practices for domestic waste collectors. MDPI 2022-05-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9180064/ /pubmed/35682123 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116539 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Lissah, Samuel Yaw Ayanore, Martin Amogre Krugu, John K. Aberese-Ako, Matilda Ruiter, Robert A. C. “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title | “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title_full | “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title_fullStr | “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title_full_unstemmed | “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title_short | “Our Work, Our Health, No One’s Concern”: Domestic Waste Collectors’ Perceptions of Occupational Safety and Self-Reported Health Issues in an Urban Town in Ghana |
title_sort | “our work, our health, no one’s concern”: domestic waste collectors’ perceptions of occupational safety and self-reported health issues in an urban town in ghana |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9180064/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35682123 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19116539 |
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