ABSTRACT
This study was conducted as a survey to assess the perceived effects of generator fumes on human health among residents of Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State. Six research questions were raised to guide the study and various literatures related to the study from established data bases were reviewed.
The study adopted the descriptive survey research design and the study population consisted of residents of the study area, estimated to be 374,671, from which 360 respondents were sampled using the stratified and simple random techniques. The instrument for the study was a validated structured questionnaire and data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistical tools in the form of frequency count and percentage tables.
The study found that respondents had a commendable perception of the implications of generator fumes on health as they were able to identify the several implications of prolong exposure to generator fumes on the health of humans, such as headache, respiratory complications, aggravation of asthma, some forms of cancers, noise pollution, skin irritations, nausea and nose bleeding, appetite loss, birth disorder, effect on fetus among pregnant women and death which has been severally reported. The study also observed no differences in respondents’ perception of fumes on health across the various demographic variables such as age, religion, level of academic qualification, and gender except in isolated instances, which cannot be directly associated with any significant difference in variable characteristics of the respondents. The study agree that the use of generating sets is virtually indispensible, however, this can be done by applying some level of caution such as avoiding the use of generating sets in enclosures or confined areas like indoors or passages, operating generating sets at reasonable distances from residential and commercial buildings, as well as constructing a separate structure as a generator house from where it can be operated and the exhaust pipe directed towards an area with little or no risks of human exposure.
