International Journal of Sub-Saharan African Research (IJSSAR)

Background: Laboratory facilities in Nigeria are contemporary danger zones for both workers and users of such facilities as exposure to toxic chemicals, pollutants, infectious biological substances and substandard indoor air quality conditions have become the new normal. Safety regulations compliance remains necessary for both occupational health and safety reasons as well as the validation and maintenance of research’s integrity. The safety compliance and indoor air quality management at the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria (RRIN) remains incomplete because of limited resources, as observed by this study.
Objective: This paper investigated how employees comply with laboratory safety rules at the Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria and measures workplace air quality and its influence on worker health status.
Method: the study adopted adescriptive cross-sectional survey approach. Laboratory workers received structured questionnaire and semi-structured interviews during the survey, which included 260 participants. SPSS software-enabled analysis of the study results through descriptive statistics analysis. Results: Findings show that more than half of the labour force considered their working environment to be poor, and about seven out of ten workers smelled unusual odours which pointed to insufficient ventilation?. Safety compliance was observed to be inconsistent as 30% continuously used their PPE and 60% admitted to ignoring chemical handling procedures?. The study revealed health-related issues as 70% of workers experienced headaches, 50% developed eye irritation and fatigue, and 30% admitted missing work due to IAQ symptoms
Conclusion: Poor IAQ and weak safety compliance pose significant health risks to laboratory workers. Safer workplaces require rigorous safety rule enforcement, updated facilities, and better training for laboratory staff. Recommendation: RRIN should deploy continuous indoor air quality tracking, systematized safety procedures, recurrent training, and enhanced ventilation infrastructure to build workplace security frameworks that defend worker health.