Economic Cost of Occupational Injuries and Diseases among Informal Welders in Ghana.

The incidence of occupational injuries and diseases among informal welders demands an understanding of a wider perspective that goes beyond the identification of hazards and preventive measures to minimize their effects. The literature on economic cost at the workplace has mainly focused on the formal sector with very little attention to the informal work environment. This paper fills this gap by estimating lost man-days and the economic cost among informal welders. The cross-sectional survey design employing a quantitative approach was used for the study. The data were collected from 220 informal master welders and their apprentices. Musculoskeletal injuries, malaria, hypertension and respiratory diseases were the major injuries and diseases leading to the highest days (35 days and above) lost for masters and apprentices. The master welders spent more days off work than the apprentices because they performed most of the technical work and were exposed to hazards for a longer period. These occupational-related injuries and diseases led to a total economic cost of 7.7% and 9.4% of masters and apprentices' total earnings, respectively. Environmentally safe working conditions of informal welders would reduce the occurrence of injuries and diseases and give them an opportunity to sustain themselves and their dependents and contribute to national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]