Occupational health risks of informal e-waste activities on major landfills and e-village in Lagos State, Nigeria

• Published in: Journal of public health policy Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 335 - 346
• Main Authors: Jimoh, Usman Umar, Famewo, Ayomide
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01.09.2022; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Confidence intervals; Electronic waste; Equality and Human Rights; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Injuries; Landfill; Landfills; Medical Sociology; Occupational health; Original Article; Pollution; Public Health; Respondents; Sampling; Sampling methods; Social Justice; Social Policy; Social Sciences; Sociology; Statistical analysis; Statistical inference; Statistics; Villages; Waste disposal sites; Workers; Nigeria; Occupational health risks; Landfills and E-market; Informal e-waste activities
• ISSN: 0197-5897; 1745-655X
• DOI: 10.1057/s41271-022-00360-y

The study examines occupational health risks of informal e-waste activities on major landfills and e-village in Lagos state, Nigeria. The concept of informality guided the study based on primary and secondary data sources. We adopted a non-probabilistic sampling technique. Thus purposive sampling was used in selecting the main landfills and the computer village in Lagos state as study sites. We used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze the data at a p  = 0.05% confidence level. Wounds and cuts accounted for over nine-tenths (92%) of the main form of injuries experienced by 300 e-workers selected by convenience sampling on the three main landfills and the e-village in Lagos. Subjects of concern include job designation of e-workers across respondents. There was a significant association between e-waste activity and occupational health risks ( X 2  = 20.341). E-waste workers use primitive methods that expose them to harmful substances and pollute the environment. Thus, we propose the formalization of the informal e-waste sector and the development of an eco-friendly environment that integrates health benefits for the workers.