Browsing by Author "Mcharo, Jonathan"

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    Knowledge and awareness of occupational hazards/risks among workers in road traffic transportation in four cities of Tanzania mainland
    (university of Dar es Salaam, 2006) Mcharo, Jonathan
    Transportation is the key to economic development and prosperity in the country. It is in fact one of country’s economic enablers. Tanzania, like other countries in the world, has some proportion of its people in transportation sector. Road traffic is an important way of transportation in both rural and urban areas. However, its impact in terms of social well being of users and workers has to be looked at. This study was conducted in four cities of Tanzania mainland, namely; Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Mbeya and Tanga. The aim of the study was to asses workers’ knowledge and awareness on existing work related health hazards/risks in the road traffic transportation. A total of 400 workers, 40 commuters and 10 officials/leaders were interviewed during the study in all visited cities. The semi-structured questionnaire and interview guides were used to explore the required information. Findings from this study showed that some of these workers were aware of some of the health hazards or causes of these hazards. However, when their knowledge on specific health hazards was assessed, it was found that they were having partial knowledge on specific health hazards. Further, very little was known about possible health problems that might be associated with their exposure to the existing hazards and working environment. In line with this, medical examination services were lacking in all visited cities where most of workers complained that they had never heard about these services. Conclusively, there were very little efforts done to identify and rectify the situation pertaining to road traffic commuters’ transportation in Tanzania. Since transportation is among the sector that employs a big number of people especially young men, there is a need for further studies to be conducted in order in order to identify all health and social problems encountered. This will enable the responsible authorities to develop some interventions that will address the identified problems and subsequently promote and maintain the health status of all persons employed in this sector.