Determinants of occupational injuries among building construction workers in Kampala City, Uganda

Abstract

BackgroundGlobally, about 1000 people die and close to 860,000 people sustain injury at work daily. Injury prevention and control require contextual evidence, although most studies in Uganda have focused on general causes. Factors associated with occupational injuries among building construction workers were assessed in this study.MethodsA cross-sectional study among building construction workers was conducted in Kampala, Uganda. A standardized semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Three hundred nineteen (319) participants were randomly and proportionately selected from 57 construction sites. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the variables while generalized linear modeling was used to estimate the crude/adjusted prevalence ratios.ResultsThe prevalence of occupational injuries was 32.4%. Most injuries, approximately 70% occurred among nightshift workers. Age of ≤24 years (APR: 2.09 CI: 1.20–3.65, P = 0.009); daily income in or above the second quartile−USD ≥3.2 (APR: 1.72, CI: 1.06–2.80, P = 0.028); job dissatisfaction (APR: 1.63, CI: 1.17–2.27, P = 0.004); job stress (APR: 1.72, CI: 1.22–2.41, P = 0.004); poor safety environment (APR: 1.51, CI: 1.10–2.05, P = 0.009); PPE provision (APR: 1.47, CI: 1.05–2.05, P = 0.02) and routine use of PPE (APR: 0.57, CI: 0.34–0.95, P = 0.03) were significantly associated with occupational injuries.ConclusionThere was a relatively high prevalence of injuries mostly resulting from cuts and mostly suffered on night duty. Upper and lower extremities were the most hurt parts of the body during injury leading to loss of a substantial number of productive days. This could affect the health and wellbeing of construction workers. Most of the factors significantly associated with occupational injuries are modifiable thus an opportunity to address the problem. Efforts towards integrating education for behaviour change, advocacy and training workers to demand for their rights to safe and protection at work and legislation enforcement can help reduce occupational injury occurrence.

Work-Related Injuries among Insured Construction Workers Presenting to a Swiss Adult Emergency Department: A Retrospective Study (2016–2020)

“…In the present study, the most common body parts injured were the upper extremities, with the hand being the most frequent location of the injury, in accordance with numerous studies describing the upper extremities as the most commonly affected body part [ 57 , 58 ]. Unlike previous evidence indicating lower extremities as the second-most-frequently injured body part [ 51 , 59 ], the results of the present study indicate that it is rather the head, followed by the lower extremities. This finding is concerning, given that a pooled proportions meta-analysis demonstrated that 17.9% of traumatic brain injuries are work-associated and 6.3% of occupational events result in traumatic brain injury (TBI) with 3.6% of work-related TBI being fatal [ 60 ].…”

Effect of Occupational Health and Safety Training for Chinese Construction Workers Based on the CHAID Decision Tree

“…The cross-sectional survey of construction workers found that the injuries with high incidence were mostly cuts and night-shift injuries. Therefore, strengthening education, publicity, and training, guaranteeing their rights to safety and protection at work, as well as legislative implementation, can help to reduce the occurrence of occupational injuries (26). The grass-roots construction workers need reasonable and effective training methods.…”

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