Awareness of health hazards and use of personal protective equipment among fuel pump attendants in Benin City, Nigeria

Background: Petroleum products contain various volatile and organic compounds which have serious health implications on humans. Awareness of health hazards associated with petroleum product exposure by workers in petrol stations will enable these workers to have appropriate information regarding the risks of their occupation. Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the level of awareness of health hazards and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by fuel pump attendants in Benin City, Nigeria. Methods: Exactly 90 participants (66 males and 24 females, age range 18–46 years) were evaluated. The health hazard awareness was assessed by the use of investigator-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire was open ended and divided into sections such as sociodemography and lifestyle, knowledge of health hazards and PPE, use of PPE, and duration of exposure. Data were analyzed by Chi-square and odds ratio (OR) was used to correlate the likelihood of association between variables. Results: Some 95.6% of respondents were aware of at least one type of PPE, 24.4% were aware of the health hazards of petroleum products, and only 18.8% actually use a type of PPE. The awareness of health hazards and use of PPE correlated positively with educational status (OR: 5.123, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.8–20.18; OR: 40.2, 95% CI: 18.25–273.111) and duration of employment (OR: 2.00, 95% CI: 1.96–18.20; OR: 4.00, 95% CI: 1.60–15.81), respectively. The observance of safety measures by these workers is paramount since there is no safe limit of exposure to some of the components of hydrocarbon. Enforcement of the use of PPE and the promotion of strategies to minimize exposure of workers is imperative.