Occupational injuries among building construction workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Occupational injuries can pose direct costs, like suffering, loss of employment, disability and loss of productivity, and indirect costs on families and society. However, there is a dearth of studies clarifying the situation in most of Subsaharan African countries, like Ethiopia. The present study determined the prevalence of injury and associated factors among building construction employees in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among building construction employees in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from February to April 2015. Multi-stages sampling followed by simple random sampling techniques was used to select the study participants. The sample size of the study was 544. A pre-tested and structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Multivariable analyses were employed to see the effect of explanatory variables on injury.

The prevalence of injury among building construction employees was reported to be 38.3 % [95 % CI: (33.9, 42.7)] in the past 1 year. Use of personal protective equipments, work experience, khat chewing were factors significantly associated with injury.

This is among the few studies describing construction health and safety in Ethiopia. In this study a relatively higher prevalence of injury was reported among building construction employees compared to other studies. If urgent interventions are not in place, the absence from work, loss of productivity and work-related illnesses, disabilities and fatalities will continue to be a major challenge of the construction industry in the future. Therefore, programs to mitigate the burden borne by construction-related injuries should focus on areas, such as provision of safety trainings, promoting use of PPE and monitoring substance abuse in workplace.