APPRAISAL OF RELATED RISKS WITH LOCALLY MADE BLOCK MAKING MACHINE: A MULTI-SITE CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA BLOCK MAKING INDUSTRY

• O. Hezekiah Adeyemi

  Department of Mechanical Engineering, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Nigeria

• B Julius Olorunfemi,

  Departments of Mechanical, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State,

• Olasunkanmi O Akinyemi

  Departments of Mechanical, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria

Non-movement accidents usually arise from the use of machinery and it accounted for more than 10% of all accidents reported yearly. This study evaluated the common risks related to using locally made Block Making Machine (BMM) in 55 block making factories (BMF) located in the Southwest, Nigeria. The objective was to measure the level of exposures of workers to the machine related hazards. Questionnaire, involving 170 workers, and observation methods were used to obtain the safety conditions attached to operating the machines. The hazards prevention program checked by Safety Professionals (SaPro) included machine guarding, environmental hazards control and the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among others. Non-parametric Chi-Square tests and the independent sample t-test at p<0.05 were used to analyze the data. More than 87% of the total workers suffered injury on the job. Fingers, legs and low-back injuries were mostly reported by 80%, 68.5% and 63.3% workers respectively. Unguarded machinery (78.6%), awkward postures (75%), manual lifting (67%) and carelessness (60%) were the  reported risk factors.  The Chi-Square test showed that there was significant relationship between the ratings of the operators and the SaPro, on poor machine guarding, access to machine control and environmental control (Chi Square (272) = 8.741E2a , p = .000). The study asserted a need for a redesign of the locally made block making machine for inclusion of safety elements to enhance safety using the machine.

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