Adherence and knowledge about the use of personal protective equipment among manicurists

Objective: this study aimed to assess adherence and knowledge of manicures/pedicures on the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Method: it was a survey with 235 manicures/pedicures in salons, Belo Horizonte/Brazil. Data were analyzed with the software Statistical package for the social sciences (17.0), using descriptive statistics, chi-square and logistic regression. Results: the adherence and the knowledge of the professional were evaluated using the median of the results, obtaining 52% and 63% respectively. The professionals younger than 31 were more likely (2.54 times) to adhere to PPE and those who claimed to have done biosafety course and to use uniform during work, had better chance of understanding (2.86 and 3.12 times, respectively). The majority (83.4 %) stated that the use of PPE should occur for all procedures, meanwhile 71.5 % cited not use them. Conclusion: the results indicate the poor adherence to PPE, strengthen occupational biological risk and need for training of these professionals.