Health Implications of Industrial Hazards on the Inhabitants of Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria

The study investigated the health implications of industrial hazards on the inhabitants of Port Harcourt metropolis of Rivers State of Nigeria. The study was informed by series of hazards induced by industrial activities vis-à-vis the health of the people. The descriptive research survey design was adopted. The population consisted of all the inhabitants and workers in the industrial areas of the metropolis with a sample size of one thousand respondents selected through the multistage sampling technique. Two research hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The major instrument used for data collection was the self-structured questionnaire which was analysed with the inferential statistics of χ2 set at .05 alpha level. The results showed that all the variables tested were rejected in favour of the H1 hypotheses indicating that many hazards such as fire outbreak and environmental pollution are sometimes industrial related and that the health of the inhabitants are usually impacted negatively. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that industries should be sited outside residential areas while environmental health agencies should guide, monitor and apprehend culprits – furthermore awareness should be created on the people on how to live healthy in industrial area DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n5p6