Risk Factors Associated with Occupational Injuries Among Motor Vehicle Repair Workers: A Case Study of Kigandaini Juakali Sector Thika, Kenya

Aim: The study aimed to determine the associated factors for occupational injuries at Kigandaini Juakali sector, Thika town, Kenya

Method: An occupational injury refers to a physical injury that a worker encounters while working, they include body cuts, burns, body punctures, and body abrasions. An analytical cross-sectional study design was applied. A stratified random sampling method was applied to recruit 260 respondents. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection were applied, whereby a semi-structured questionnaire, KII, and FGDs were used to collect data. To enhance data quality, Cronbach’s alpha was applied for quantitative data while word cloud was used for qualitative data. Chi-square and logistic regression were applied to determine the degree of association between occupational injuries and associated risk factors.

Results: The annual prevalence rate of work-related injuries was (43.5%) and (39.8%) for the past two weeks. Body cuts at 78.8% were the most reported injuries. PPEs in suitable working condition (OR=39, 95%CI=12.73-119.66), whether PPEs were worn properly (OR=59, 95%CI=16.94-209.84), provision of occupational health and safety information (OR=2.5, 95%CI=1.23-5.28), Use of PPEs (OR=8.1, 95%CI=0.037-0.42), presence of safety information boards(OR=3, 95%CI=1.08-8.08) reduced the odds of work-related injuries while poor working condition (OR=2.5, 95%CI=0.19-0.85) increased the odds of having a work-related injury.

Conclusion: The study reported a high prevalence of occupational injuries among motor vehicle repair workers. Poor working conditions increased the odds of having an occupational injury while the provision of occupational safety information, presence of safety boards, proper wearing of protective gears, use of full protective gears, use of protective gears in good working condition, and good perception on mandatory use PPEs reduced the odds of having an occupational injury. There is need to safeguard the necessary safety measure which will result to a safer working environment.