Assessment Of Safety Practices Research Articles

Assessment of safety practices and farmers behaviors adopted when handling pesticides in rural Kano state, Nigeria

Background: With the global population expected to reach 9billion people by 2050, current agro economy practices are expected to exacerbate human health threat, environmental and land pressures.Feeding the majority of the world population is challenging and the potential presence of using agrochemicals must be investigated to guarantee consumer chemical safety.To overcome this challenge, there is an urgent need to invest in innovative solutions for food production. Objective: This study assesses safety practices and farmer’s behaviors adopted when handling pesticides in Kano State, Nigeria. Methods: A structure questionnaire was developed focusing on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge and experience of adverse health effects related to pesticide use, details of work practices and an inventory of pesticides used on the farm.Of the 400 copies of questionnaire administered 392 copies representing 98% of the administered questionnaires were retrieved and found useable. Findings: The result showed that less than half of these farmers who make use of pesticides protect themselves by wearing mask, boot or impermeable clothes, 72.6% of the respondents use stock in mixing pesticides, 17.7% made use of their bare hands while 9.7% use other methods, In terms of what they do after applying pesticides 70.4% wash their hands with soap and water, 25.4% claimed that they wash their hands with waters only, 29.1% store pesticide in their rooms, 38.5% stored it outside house while 32.5% of the respondents stored pesticides inside house, 47.0% of the respondents dispose pesticides containers by throwing it in open field, 38.7% throw it in dustbin while 14.2% returns the containers to the seller. Interpretation: There is need to provide cautionary tales for researchers, various stakeholders, and decision-makers to agree on the data needed to build confidence in using new methods for specific purposes.Confidence building measures can have the potential to play an increasing role in screening for hazardous properties, prioritizing chemicals for further testing, identifying safer alternatives, assessing environmental media, improving emergency response, and, overall, providing greater protection of public health and the environment.Also, pesticide regulations on farmers should be enforced in a way that will protect public health and those who are being exposed outside of regulations.

Assessment of Safety Practices in Garri Production among Cassava Processors in Ido Local Government Area Oyo State Nigeria

The study assessed safety practices carried out in garri production among the cassava processors in Ido Local Government area, Oyo State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 104 cassava processors from three (3) wards in the study area. Parameters examined are socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, respondents’ knowledge of food safety practices, and the constraints encountered in the food safety practices in garri production among the respondents in the study area. A well structured-questionnaire with interview schedule was used for data collection in the study area. Both descriptive and inferential statistics like frequency distribution, percentages, Chi-square and Pearson product moment correlation were used in analyzing the data. Results show that majority of the respondents were female (70.2%), had age range of 31-40 (47.1%), married (72.1%), primary education (35.6%), and processing experience of 6-10 years (65.4%). Most of the respondents (53.7%) have sufficient knowledge of the food safety practices. Also, most of the respondents (63.4%) encountered little or no constraints in cassava processing into garri in the study area. The results further exemplified that there is significant relationship between constraints encountered in processing and respondents’ knowledge of food safety practices among the cassava processors in the study area (r = -0.194, p < 0.05). This implies that there is little or no constraint for food safety practices but cassava processors’ knowledge and their years of experience have positive influence on the production of garri in the study area. It is however recommended that government should deploy community health workers to monitor the processing activities of the cassava processors and to enforce adequate hygiene in safety practices in all the cassava processing units in the study area. The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC should also be mobilized to ensure that garri is free of cyanide acid content and fortified with vitamins before its distribution to the markets.

Assessment of safety practices among modern barbers in Gwadabawa Local Government, Sokoto State, Nigeria

Many people attend barbing shops for personal care on frequent basis. Despite the frequent patronage of barbing shops, so many risks and hazards are possible. This paper intended to determine the safety practices of modern barbers in Gwadabawa local government, Sokoto state, Nigeria .A cross-sectional survey type of study was conducted. Therein, fifty respondents were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire and their shops were inspected. Summarily, poor safety practices among the respondents were revealed. It is pertinent that, the government, advocators, and health bodies, facilitate the training and regulation of barbing workers.Keywords: Barbers, bacteria, viruses, hair, haircut, safety practices

Awareness of Surgical Smoke Risks and Assessment of Safety Practices During Electrosurgery Among US Dermatology Residents

This study assessed clinician awareness of surgical smoke risks and current safety practices during active electrosurgery among dermatology residents.

Assessment of Safety Practices and Injuries Associated with Wood Processing in a Timber Company in Ghana

This paper reports the assessment of safety practices and injuries in a timber company in Ghana. A cross-sectional survey design was used for the study. Data were collected from 300 respondents at a sawmill in Ghana using a 5-point Likert-type scale questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the data analyses. The result indicates that the mean rating of the respondents on their use of personal protective equipment ranged from 1.09 to 2.51. This implies that the workers of the sawmill rarely or never wear: gloves, overall, goggles, face shield, nose and mouth mask, earplugs or helmet during wood processing. Additionally, the mean ratings of the respondents regarding safety practices, machine and maintenance ranged from 2.42 to 4.03 with three out of the eight items having mean ratings higher than the theoretical mean of 3.0. The ratings of the respondents of the saw doctoring department on their practice of safety on machine and maintenance were significantly higher than those of the other departments. The result of the study further suggests that the workers of this sawmill do rarely report of: skin irritation/dermatitis, eye irritation, lack of appetite, arm/leg amputation, neck pains, hearing loss and poor eye sight problems. However, they usually report of headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, small cuts, back pains, and hip and leg pains. The outcome of this study therefore suggests that the management of the sawmill studied needs to do more to enforce practice of safety, especially the use of personal protective equipment, to reduce hazards and injuries associated with wood processing in the firm.