Background:
Working is regarded as one of the major things that guide individual
life and, because of the vitality of work in the daily life of
individuals; work must be understood across economic, cultural and
social spheres. By engaging in one form of works, people earn means of
support, establish their identities, perceive life as meaningful and
establish social network with others [1]. Despite the fact that work
is vital for life and health, the organizational pattern, mode of
operation and the related factors have reportedly caused numerous
diseases among workers [1,2]. Psychosocial factors arising from the
interaction between work description, content, work organization,
working condition, level of technological advancement and the workers’
level of competence, needs, resources and other personal factors all
exert untold effects on the workers’ wellbeing and quality of life
[3,4].
Quality of Life according to World Health Organization (WHO) is seen as
an “individual’s perception of their position in life in the context of
the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to
their goals, expectations, standards and concerns”[5, 6]. This
therefore involves four main areas of work life: safety at work;
employee health care; adequate working time; and a commensurate salary
[7, 8]. Individual worker perceives high quality of life when he has
positive feelings towards his work and its prospect, and hence motivated
to stay on the job and commit to its performance [9].
The quality of life is a product of several factors inherent in the work
environment [10]. The performance of the employees at various work
positions is intricately related to the set of factors affecting
workers’ health, well-being, habits, work environment and quality of
life. Moreover, quality of life is also reported to be significantly
associated with employees’ job satisfaction, high moral, output at work,
level of wellness, job security and safety at
work [11] and varies across
occupation, occupational disorders and socio-demographic characteristics
[8,12, 13, 14, 15, 16] .
Quarry industries are one of the important industries across the world
serving as major sources of raw materials for key developmental strides
in the society [17]. According to British Geological Survey [18]
quarry work is second to agriculture as the major sources of employment
mostly in rural areas with the products exported to the developed areas
as finished products. It accounts for over 40 million Euros economic
growth across countries [19]. Over 20 million workers earn living
from quarry industries in developing countries [20,21].
Despite the above enormous contributions, quarry works have been
characterized by poor technological involvement and use of human being
in place of automation [19, 22]. Poor condition of work, lack of job
security and low monthly earning were also common among quarry workers
in developing countries where quarry industries are mostly located for
want of low cost for labour
[19]. It has also been
reported as the riskiest job across occupations with various
occupational disorders [23,24,25]. Assessment of quality of life is
a vital managerial tool to map out preventive measures for health
deviations as a result of work activities and formulation of policies
for safety at work [26]. This study therefore assessed the quality
of life and the associated factors among quarry workers in Nigeria.