Effect of Respiratory Protection on Respiratory Flow Rates of Vehicle Spray Painters in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the effect of insufficient respiratory protection on respiratory flow rates of vehicle spray painters. Eighty-six vehicle body-spray painters were used for the research. The main instruments for data collection were the modified Health and Safety Washington States repair/spraying shops questionnaire. Peak flow meter (EN-13826 model) was used to determine respiration flow rates. The descriptive statistics were used to analyse the demographic characteristics of the participants while the inferential statistics of t-test was the tool used to test the significance at a level of 0.05. The values of peak expiratory flow rates (PEFR) before spray painting were significantly (p < 0.001) higher than the values after spray painting. Moreover, the values of PEFR of spray painters were significantly (p < 0.001) lower than the values of the control group with an average of about 92 L/min. The study concluded that the devices used by vehicle spray painters for respiratory protection were not effective. It was, therefore, recommended that the spray painters should use the recommended protective respiratory devices while working.