Knowledge of occupational hazards, attitudes and practices of safety measures among butchers in Oko-oba abattoir, Lagos state

Objectives: General objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of occupational hazards, attitude to safety measures and practice of occupational safety measures among butchers in Oko-oba Abattoir Lagos state. Methods: Study design was a descriptive cross sectional study among butchers in an abattoir. Minimum sample size (n) of 311 was estimated; however, 345 respondents were selected by simple random sampling technique using table of random numbers. Pretested interviewer administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Responses to the knowledge, attitude and practice questions were scored and graded as poor (<50%), good (50-69%) and very good (≥70%). Epi-Info version 3.4.1, GraphPad Instant (DATASET2.1SD) and WinPepi Version 10.7 statistical software packages were used for data analysis. Data was collected in July 2014. Results: A total of 329 out of the 345 selected respondents participated in the study, giving a response rate of 95.0%. Mean age of the respondents was 38.21±11.04. The mean knowledge of occupational hazard, attitude and safety practice scores (%) were 50.7±10.8, 92.2±10.6 and 68.3±;13.9 respectively. Only 193 (58.7) of the respondents wear gloves while handling raw meat and body fluids of animals. There was statistically significant association between the number of days at work per week and practice of occupational safety measures (p=0.026). Conclusion: Knowledge of occupational hazards was average, positive attitude to safety measures was very good and the reported safety practices were good. There is therefore need for Lagos state Government in conjunction with the butchers association to organize health education programmes to increase the butchers knowledge of occupational hazards in the abattoir.