Abstract:
Background: Occupational injury is any unintentional physical damage or harm to the body
tissue from occupational exposure. The job of waste cleaners are characterized by highly lifting,
pulling, carrying and pushing medical wastes that potentially expose them to different
ergonomics problems and physical injury. Literatures demonstrates that occupational health has
been affected by different associated factors like Socio-demographic, Work related and
Behavioral characteristics.
Objectives: The aim of the study would be to assess the magnitude of occupational injury and
its associated factors among waste cleaners in public hospitals of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in
February 2023 to March 2023.
Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study design was conducted among 403waste
cleaner in public hospitals found in Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia. Data were collected using
structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of the collected data were done for most variables
in the study using Frequencies, percentages and mean of variables and standard deviation was
estimated to describe data. Multivariable binary logistic regression was also determined to see
the relative effect of one independent variable on occupational injury by controlling the other
independent variables.
Results: Four hundred three hospital cleaners participated in the study which was yielding a 98.8
response rate. Out of 398 governmental hospital cleaners, 47 (11.8 %) with 95% CI (8.8, 15.3) of
them were reporting a physical injury in the past year due to their occupation. Family size,
working hours per day, and sleeping disorders are associated with the independent variable. The
risk of occupational injury for those who had two and less family size (AOR = 0.42, 95% CI:
0.185- 0.944) was reduced by 58% as compared with those who had five and above family size.
Conclusion: Family sizes of the respondents, sleeping disorder, and working time per day were
significantly associated factors with occupationalinjury.HospitalsneedsProvision of sufficient
PPE is highly recommended.
