Determinants of Exposures to Hazardous Materials among Nail Cosmeticians in the Kampala City, Uganda

The cost of beauty: Perspectives of salon workers in Kisumu City, Kenya

Despite occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products (PCPs), salon workers receive minimal formal protections. Consequently, most salon workers rely on personal safeguards. However, the nature of such individual-level safeguards remains unknown. Knowledge of risks associated with occupational use of cosmetics and PCPs and information needs of salon workers were investigated in Kisumu City, Kenya. Responses from 302 respondents showed that 84% were women and 30% had post-secondary education. Seventy percent reported knowing that ingestion, inhalation, dermal absorption, and injection are the pathways through which harmful products in cosmetics and PCPs may enter the body. Salon workers who had been employed for more than 5 years were at least twice more likely to report that it is not the case that cosmetics and PCPs only cause harm to children (5-10 years vs 1 year: OR = 2.440, 95% CI, 1.160-5.239; >10 years vs 1 year: OR = 8.857, 95% CI, 3.163-29.377); they were about three times more likely to either agree with the statement that cosmetics and PCPs only cause harm under prolonged exposure or to say that they did not know compared to their counterparts who had worked in the industry for 1 year (5-10 years vs 1 year: OR = 2.750, 95% CI, 1.144-7.179; >10 years vs 1 year: 3.179, 95% CI, 1.173-9.096). Over 50% of the respondents reported that they need information on how to protect themselves and others; on available protective measures; and on cosmetic products and PCPs that are safe. Sixty percent reported that they would prefer to get such information from the Ministry of Health at the county or national level and on product inserts. Overall, salon workers in Kisumu City are knowledgeable about the risks associated with their occupation but also appreciate gaps in their knowledge, which can be filled by government-mandated interventions.

Exposure of formal and informal nail technicians to organic solvents found in nail products

Nail technicians are exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from nail products used in their daily work, which may cause adverse health effects. This study aimed to assess VOC exposure of nail technicians in the South African formal and informal sectors and to provide a task-based exposure assessment of different nail applications. Personal passive sampling was conducted on 10 formal and 10 informal nail technicians located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg and the Braamfontein area, over 3 days. Real-time measurements were taken to determine task-based peak exposures. The number of clients serviced, working hours, type of nail application, type of ventilation, room volume, and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, were also recorded. There were differences in the nail products used, the types of nail applications performed, the number of clients serviced, and breathing zones VOC concentrations of the formal and informal nail technicians. Some formal nail salons were equipped with mechanical ventilation while the informal nail salons relied on natural ventilation. CO2 concentrations were higher in the informal than the formal nail salons and increased during the course of the working day. Formal nail technicians were exposed to higher total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) concentrations than informal nail technicians, which may be due to the different nail application procedures as well as 'background' emissions from their co-workers-the bystander effect. Acetone was the predominantly detected VOC: the formal nail technicians were exposed to significantly higher TWA (8 h) concentrations [geometric mean (GM) 43.8 ppm, geometric standard deviation (GSD) 2.49] than were the informal nail technicians (GM 9.87 ppm, GSD 5.13). Methyl methacrylate among the informal nail technicians was measured at 89.7% detection frequency, far higher than that among the formal nail technicians (3.4%). This may be attributed to the observed popularity of acrylic nail applications in this sector. Nail applications involving soak-off gave rise to high TVOC peaks at the start of the nail application process. This is the first study to compare organic solvent exposures among formal and informal nail technicians and determine task-based peak exposures. It also brings attention to the often-overlooked informal sector of this industry.