ASSESSMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY PRACTICES IN OIL AND GAS DOWNSTREAM SECTOR: A CASE STUDY OF 50 FUEL SERVICE STATIONS IN ENUGU STATE

This research was conducted to assess the health and safety standards, occupational hazards and health problems among pumps attendants in fuel service stations in Enugu metropolis. Data was collected using structured questionnaire and an observation check list. A total of 221 pump attendants and 50 fuel service station managers were randomly sampled from 50 fuel service station in Enugu metropolis. The Fisher’s exact test at 5% significance level and binary logistic regression were conducted to test association among study parameters using SPSS. The top three occupation hazards were exposure to extreme weather conditions (99%), inhalation of vehicle exhausts fumes and petrol vapour (98%) and fire outbreak (88%). Common illnesses experienced by pump attendants are all work-related and were dominated by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), low-back pain (LBP) headaches and dizziness logistic regression using age, sex and work experience as risk factors for MSDs, LBPs and headaches showed significant association between LBP and age of pump attendants (P=-0.036% ᆺ=0.16-0.94) whilst MSDs and headaches showed on significant association with the risk factors. Post-employment medical examination habits was poor (22%) among the attendants possibly owing to ignorance of the health risks and the fact that the related costs are self-borne. Although all stations had firefighting equipment, training in their usage was highly associated with work experience of pump attendants