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Abstract

The University environment is knowledge-based and it accommodates the informal economy operators (IEOs), who also serve as providers of various services for the entire university community. The field of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) does not usually cover these informal workers, even when they are working in the formal setting. OHS focuses on formal workplaces. This paper focuses on occupational hazards prevalent among the IEOs purposely selected in the University of Ibadan and Lagos State University, Ojo, Nigeria. It assesses the level of awareness of OHS, the precautionary measures put in place, if any by these IEOs. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were arranged with different segments of the IEOs in the selected Universities. Interviews were conducted with the representatives of the leadership of the various associations of the operators, as well as some key members of the selected Universities? administration. The findings reveal the enormous contributions of the IEOs in Universities as well as the reciprocal impact the Universities also have on them. It reveals that some jobs in the economy are based on sex. On the issue of OHS, it was revealed that the IEOs pay no attention to OHS issues as the necessary precautionary measures and personal occupational health awareness are lacking. Access to health management centre within the universities was not opened to the IEOs. The paper suggests ways of improving this phenomenon and recommends that the University authorities should integrate the IEOs into their health service programmes, even if they need to pay to avoid the IEOs dying by instalment.

Biography

Oluranti Samuel is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. He is currently a Doctoral Student in Sociology, Archie Mafeje Research Institute, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa.