Abstract:

To have a vibrant and productive economy in any nation, it becomes imperative that the health and safety of her workers must be given priority attention by the worker himself, employer and the government. Because of the increasing industrialization, infrastructural developments and modernization taking place in developing countries particularly like Nigeria. These factors have not only increased the job opportunities in and around the country but at the same time increased the incidence of morbidity and mortality of workers.

And so it is important that the worker has an in depth knowledge and understanding of the nature of the job with regards to the health hazard exposures peculiar to the job and the safety measures to be undertaken even before accepting the job. More so, safety officers, factory and industrial managers etc. need to appreciate the need to know all that is involved in the job in order to make the workplace a safe and conducive one for the worker and achieve high productivity.

This paper attempts to highlight a lot of occupational hazards that occur among both the formal and informal Nigerian workers, reasons for their occurrences, safety measures, lapses on the part of the employer and reveals the laxity on the part of government to enact and enforce occupational safety and health laws.

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