IntroductionrnStreet sweepers play an important role in helping the wellbeing of the people and cleanliness ofrnthe cities. This job exposes the street sweepers to a variety of risk factors such as dust, toxins andrndiesel exhaust pollution, which leads them to develop respiratory symptoms and diseases.rnObjective: This study was designed to assess the prevalence of chronic respiratory symptomsrnand associated factors among street sweepers.rnMethods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 208 streetrnsweepers and 203 petty traders in Addis Ababa city in 36 districts of three selected sub cities;rnYeka, Bole and Arada of Addis Ababa city administration from January to May 2016. The datarnwas collected using close ended questionnaire adapted from American Thoracic Societyrnrespiratory symptoms questionnaire and observational check list was used to check thernaccessibility and utilization of personal protective devices. The collected data was entered in torncomputer using Epi-Info7 then exported to SPSS (version 20) for cleaning and analysis.rnFrequency distribution, Chi square test and logistic regression were used in data analysis.rnResultêž‰ In this study, the prevalence of chronic respiratory symptoms was 113(54.3%) in streetrnsweepers and 51(25.12%) petty traders with prevalence of Cough (43.6% versus 15.3%), Phlegmrn(24.8% versus 9.4%), Wheezing (19.3% versus 5.4%), breathlessness (17.8% versus 6.4%) andrnChest pain (5.3% versus 1.5%). None of the street sweepers used respirator and 57.7% wearingrnmouth/nose mask. Chronic respiratory symptoms among street sweepers were associated with agern(AOR = 1.382, 95 % CI, 1.176-10.861), work experience (AOR = 6.418,95 % CI, 1.604-25.686),rnworking hours (AOR = 3.925, 95 % CI, 2.060-7.477) and past dust exposure (AOR = 2.696, 95 %rnCI, 1.278-5.685).rnConclusions and recommendationsrnChronic respiratory symptoms were highly prevalent among street sweepers than the controlrngroup. Age, duration of job, working hours and past dust exposure were identified factors amongrnstreet sweepers. Therefore, the study has recommended that Pre employment and on servicerntraining should be given and, appropriate protective device should be supplied in order tornmaintain the health and safety of workers. Further studies with cohort study design should bernundertaken to identify the factors responsible for higher prevalence of chronic respiratoryrnsymptoms among the street sweepers.