Employers are expected to protect their staff ensuring that exposure to any physical agent in the workplace should be kept as low as reasonably practicable. Only recently, Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010) produced a document that provides the list of top occupational diseases caused by physical agents to include:
· Hearing impairment caused by noise
· Disease caused by vibration (disorders of muscles, tendons, bones, joints, peripheral blood vessels or peripheral nerves)
· Diseases caused by work in compressed air
· Diseases caused by ionizing radiation
· Diseases caused by heat radiation
· Diseases caused by ultraviolet radiation
· Diseases due to extreme temperature
· Diseases caused to any other physical agents not mentioned where a direct a link between exposure of a worker to these physical agents and the disease suffered is established.
Please reference the “Employee’s Compensation Act 2010, Act NO.13” Federal Republic of Nigeria (2010) Abuja, Nigeria.
The Employee compensation Act is only a review of previously existing Act. The intent of this Act is clearly to ensure that the health of Nigeria’s workforce is not put on the line because of hazards in the workplace which are predominately preventable. However, many Nigerians are still significantly exposed to these hazards. How effective has this document and others been in reducing disease burden encountered as a result of our own work environment?
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