Relationship of total suspended particulate dust levels, personal protective equipment, and individual characteristics with breathing respiratory complaints at Benowo Landfill Surabaya

A landfill can have an impact on environmental quality such as air pollution from dust and gas produced from the anaerobic decomposition process, especially ifwaste disposal uses an open dumping system,. The results ofthe preliminary study showed that scavengers in the final processing ofgarbage had not used PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) such as masks and did not use hand protectors. Many health complaints felt by them are low back pain and headache. This research was observational, the study design used was a cross-sectional study design. The location of the study was carried out at the Surabaya Benowo waste landfill, the sample in the study w:ls scavengers of women who worked at the Surabaya Benowo waste landfill aged l5-64 years. The method ofmeasuring TSP (Total Suspended Particulate) dust using laboratory tests with gravimetric methods, data on tie use of PPE mask and respiratory complaints were obtained through questionnaires. Statistical tests were used to see strong relationships using Kendall's tau-b with a significance value ofu = 0.05. The results ofthe air quality test in the form ofTSP dust content at the work site ofthe scavengers showed the results of0.0972 mg/Nm3 which meant that TSP dust levels did not exceJd environmental quality standards. Of the 37 scavenger respondents, l3 people (24%o) experienced moderate respiratory complaints and 24 people (65%) experienced mild respiratory complaints. Characteristics of individual scavengers associated with respiratory complaints were cigarette exposure (Sig = 0.025) and disease history (Sig : 0.00). There was no significant relationship between the use ofPPE with respiratory complaints suffered by scavengers at Benowo landfill Surabaya.