Introduction: In most cities of low-income countries, waste management procedures are characterized by the dominance of manual labor tasks, which therefore exposes waste professionals to numerous occupational hazards of variable nature, occurring at every stage of the waste management process. This study is aimed at investigating the days away from work injuries and associated factors among organized waste collectors in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia.
Method: Cross-sectional study design was used from June 1 to 30, 2017. A pre-tested questionnaire and observation checklist was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS for windows 20.0. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression methods were used to describe the study population and assess the association between dependent and independent variables, respectively.
Result: In this study, 279 waste collectors were involved as a study participant. Sixty-nine (69.5%) of the participants were female. Ten percent of the workers reported they had experienced at least one day away from work injuries during the last twelve months. Sex, marital status, personal protective equipment utilization, and monthly salary were statistically associated with an injury.
Conclusion: Days away from work injury among waste collectors is a public health problem and might have the economic and social well-being of the workers. Thus, strengthening the provision of personal protective devices and ensuring its utilization is highly recommended
