Occupational Health Hazards among Roadside Automobile Mechanics in Minna Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the occupational health hazards among roadside automobile mechanics in Minna metropolis. Three research question and one hypothesis guided the study. The design used was a survey research design. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample for the study which compose of 120 roadside mechanics from engine repair shop and 80 roadside mechanics from body repair shop from a total of twenty (20) roadside automobile workshops in Minna. The instrumental for data collection was a structured questionnaire on occupational health hazards. Data obtained were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t-test. The result obtained reveal that auto mechanics are exposed to wide range of hazards, such as physical, chemical, and human factor. The study also revealed that human and environmental factors as the main cause of occupational health hazards among roadside automobile mechanics in Minna. It was therefore recommended among others, that government at various level should pay more attention to the occupational health safety of roadside automobile mechanics by enforcing the occupational health safety rules and regulation.