Abstract:
With increasing urbanization, a number of vehicles contribute to the severe pollution related health
hazards. Traffic pollution is a major public health threat and traffic officers who are continuously
exposed are at an increased risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the awareness of police
officers in Colombo district regarding respiratory problems that may arise in them. A descriptive
cross-sectional study was conducted and the participants were traffic police officers with more than 5
years of experience. Convenient sampling technique was used to collect data using a self-
administered questionnaire. Analysis of collected data was performed through Microsoft excel for
descriptive statistics. Throughout the study of 50 traffic police officers, 76% of the respondents was
between 20 to 30 of age and 24% was between 31 to 40 of age who had an experience more than 5
years. The results of the investigation of knowledge regarding “what is traffic air pollution” was
relatively not satisfiable, since 22% of participants had false assumptions. Furthermore, it was
remarked that 43.7% out of the total respondents were unfamiliar with the safety measures needed to
reduce the risk of respiratory related health problems. According to previous studies, traffic police
officers are prone to respiratory problems and 74% of the respondents in this investigation had
knowledge regarding the risks of pollution on their health but very few were practicing the preventive
measures. According to this investigation, the level of knowledge among participants is sufficient;
however, the level of practice for preventing the risk of respiratory problems is not satisfactory.
Furthermore, it is recommended to conduct awareness sessions regarding the importance of
maintaining a safe respiratory health while providing them with sufficient safety gears to ensure the
same.
Keywords: Awareness; Traffic police; Respiratory problems; Air pollution
