Occupational Hazards Awareness and Safety Practices Among Petrol Service Station Workers in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

ly in urban and peri-urban areas where it has attracted large workforce who work either at the petrol stations‟ dispensing area or at auto servicing sections. A Petrol station like any other petroleum industry generates and releases volatile organic compounds in all its operations. However, there is little or no documented information concerning hazard awareness and safety practices among petrol stations attendants in Nakuru County that can be used for health hazard control interventions. This research therefore highlights gaps in safety practices as well as factors that influence these practices in order to come up with appropriate information for health hazard control interventions. The research focused on one hundred and ninety-two (192) petrol station workers picked randomly from purposively selected 32 petrol stations in Njoro, Molo and Nakuru Municipality to give a desired sample size. The respondents were proportionately drawn from dispensing pump section, car servicing bay and front office section. A pilot test was conducted in Naivasha sub-county to test the validity and reliability of the research instruments. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Findings of the study revealed that 60% of the respondents stated that employer provided PPE, out of which the commonest being Aprons/overall (99.1%) while the least being face mask (16.7%). However, from observations, only 12, (6.7%) of the respondents used PPE at the time of the study commonest being Aprons/overall (99.1). Safety sign “No smoking” was observed in all petrol stations as opposed to other safety signs, “turn off engine,” “switch off phone” and “use of recommended container”. About 48.3% had undergone safety training, 70% of the stations had emergency response plan while 90% of the accidents were caused by fuel splash to skin. From the findings of the study it can be concluded that there was low use of PPE among petrol station workers as operations were done without appropriate attire even by those who said had. Whereas the safety training among the staff and management is essential, supervisors should also enforce use of safety equipment and instigate disciplinary actions against non-compliance where necessary. The study recommends petrol stations to embrace Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) which aims at reducing the operations mistakes, cost of correcting problems and level of risks while ensuring compliance with laws.