ASSESSMENT OF THE WORKING CONDITIONS OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY WORKERS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Typical hours for a textile industry employee range from 10-18 hours per day, up to 80 hours per week, and require additional overtime hours to meet strict company deadlines. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the working conditions of textile workers in Lagos state. The study determined the socio-economic characteristics of the textile workers and examined the possible risks and safety measures that are available to them. The study made use of a descriptive survey design. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 140 textile workers in the Woolen and Synthetic Manufacturing Industry, Ikeja and SunFlag Nigeria, Isolo. A convenience sampling technique was used to select the respondents from four (4) different departments in the organizations. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics; frequencies, percentages, and means. Results showed that the majority (70%) of the respondents are within the age range of 31-50 years with an average age of 38.87 years; 69.3% were male and 30.7% were female while less than half (45.7%) were married. Almost all (93.6%) of respondents earn below N30, 000 monthly. Results also revealed that textile workers are exposed to risks and dangers in the textile industry with poor working conditions such as proper health care welfare, tight working hours, exposure to chemicals, and lack of basic labour advantages such as dismissal pay in case of severe accidents at work.   Keywords: Assessment, Working Conditions, Textile, Industry, Workers