The evaluation of physical conditions of the hairdressing salons in the Gaziantep city center and their worker?s health complaints, knowledge and practices about the infectious diseases

Objective: It was aimed to evaluate of physical conditions of the hairdressing salons in the Gaziantep city center and their worker?s health complaints, knowledge and practices about the infectious diseases.Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The population of the study was 622 hairdressing salons and their staff in the Gaziantep city center. The 473 hairdressing salons were reached and 321 of these accepted to participate in the study. The 740 of 946 workers were participated in the study so data about 67.9% for salons and 78.2% for workers were collected.Results: The 42.4% of hairdressing salons were suitable to legislation and in the 82.3% of them the ventilation was performed by using door and windows. The workers were reported that 78.1% of them were received vocational training, 45.0% of them were performing manicure/pedicure, 97.0% of them were washing their hands after each procedure, 88.6% were using gloves, and 77.8% of them were using protective clothing. The 34.6% of the staff had adequate knowledge about hepatitis B, 15.3% of AIDS and 18.1% of hepatitis C. It was found that the knowledge about hepatitis B were higher in the workers who had vocational training (p=0.00). It was found that 25.9% of the staff had respiratory, 52.4% allergic, 73.1% musculo-skeletal system, and 32.6% dermatological complaints. It was determined that respiratory and allergic complaint were higher in the workers who worked in the salons that were not suitable to legislation (p<0.05).Conclusion: The work environment is the major place that the person spent their time and exposed to environmental factors. In this study, it was found that approximately half of the salons were not suitable to legislation; the minimal conditions were not achieved in the salons. The workers knowledge about the infectious diseases and the prevention must be increased. For reducing the health complaints frequency, improving workplace conditions is necessary. This research was organized for the first time in Gaziantep. Therefore, the problems must be explain more clearly and different research is needed to proceed without delay.