IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT ON WORKERS PRODUCTIVITY
ABSTRACT
Employee health and safety is considered to be a major determinant of employee and organizational performance. Today, the matter of work-force health and safety at work is receiving worldwide attention; this is the major reason why most successful organizations take care of his employee health and safety.
However, many organizations often record high rate of industrial accidents, large-scale absenteeism occasioned by ill-health as a result of the neglect of health and safety. This project provides various types of employee health and safety and how it could be implemented for improved organizational performance taken Unilever Nigeria Plc as a case study… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
The industrialization has been the engine of growth for most developing countries like Nigeria and because of that many successive governments strive to find ways and means for developing their industrial sector. The influence of an enduring employee’s safety on organizational productivity and loss control in the Nigerian construction industry cannot be overemphasized, especially in the areas of setting minimum safety management standards, safe work procedures, and environmental management standards (Lourandos, 2008).
It is assumed that an organization’s employees safety measures have a direct relationship with employees’ productivity in view of the fact that assigned tasks can only be safely accomplished when the work environment is safe and conducive for the execution of the assigned duties, be it construction, manufacturing or servicing, thus, any phenomenon that affects human production capacity will invariably affect organizational productivity hence improving workers wellbeing offers a company the opportunity of enhancing its performance (Galliker, 2000)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Statement of the Problem
In today’s workplace, whether it is on a plantation in an office, factory, institutions, etc. every worker across the globe is faced with a multitude of health hazards such as dust, gases, noise, vibration, and extreme temperatures.
This invariably results in absenteeism triggered by ill-health. Unfortunately, some employers assume little responsibility for the protection of workers’ health and safety.
It is noteworthy that the right to life is fundamental and must be considered sacrosanct. Yet every year 2.2 million men and women are deprived of that right by occupational accidents and work-related diseases (ILO, 2011)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Research Objectives
The major objective of this study is to examine The Impact of Industrial Health and Safety Management on Workers Productivity. Other specific objectives of this study are to:
- To determine the different types of health and safety methods essential for organizational improved performance.
- To find out the effect of health and safety management on employee performance… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Introduction
This chapter seeks to review related literature of the study through historical background information of health and safety standards in Nigeria, various literature on health and safety to empirical analyses.
Historical background information on health and safety standards in Nigeria
In Nigeria, the Occupational Health and Safety Act was established under the Factory Offices and Shops 1970 (Act, 328). The main provisions of the Act are intended to bring it in line with internationally accepted standards on safety, health, and welfare of employees.
The occupational health and safety activities stated under the Act, include, creating safe work and work environment and promoting the safety, health, and welfare of employees in order to ensure effective utilization of human capabilities thereby promoting increased productivity.
Although Nigeria does not have a national policy on Occupational Health and Safety, the Nigeria Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) has made provision for Occupational Health and Safety. Provisions made under Part XV Section 118 of the Act include placing a responsibility on employers to ensure a safe and healthy working environment and obligation on employees to use safety appliances provided by the employer in compliance with the employers’ instructions.
It is generally known that developing countries like Nigeria lack relevant policies to adequately cater for the health and safety of employees (Quainoo,2001). The accident rates in manufacturing and construction in developing countries are known to be at levels that are several times higher than in industrialized countries (Clarke, 2005)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
The Concept of Occupational Health Safety (OHS)
Safety involves more than the typical dictionary definition of “free from the accident”. The World Health Organization, (1999) defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
Thus health and safety refer to preventing and protecting people from injury and occupational disease in any form due to hazards and risks that may harm, injure, cause an unsafe environment to people or damage equipment, or the facilities put in place at the workplace.
The World Health Organisation, (1999) defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Thus health and safety refer to preventing and protecting people from injury and occupational disease in any form due to hazards and risks that may harm, injure, cause an unsafe environment to people or damaged equipment, or the facilities put in place at the workplace… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Safety and Productivity in the Organization
Productivity is generally seen as a measure of the amount of output generated per unit of input. In many countries, public sector productivity has been assumed to be zero in the national accounts. According to Boyle (2006), the output of the government sector has been measured as equal in value to the total value of inputs.
This output one-forth input convention has increasingly come under scrutiny in recent years. The challenge is to devise alternative estimates based on output measurement in a public sector context where collective services are provided and where there is, in most instances, no market transaction in services provided to individuals (Boyle, 2006)… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Safety Standards and Health Problems Faced by Employees
In most accidents, managers and supervisors almost instantaneously point fingers at human efforts and unsafe actions as the ultimate cause without probing deeper into the root cause of the accident. Such incidents occur due to multifaceted factors.
Human errors and unsafe actions caused by illiteracy, lack of training, poor supervision, technical flaws relating to design, layout, machine guarding, and arrangement of work (Krishnan, 1999). Very often it is found out that accidents occur in activities ancillary to the main purpose of the organization, and these activities are given less safety focus by the management.
Safety standards are an orderly arrangement of interdependent activities and related procedures that drives on organization health and safety performance. According to Bryan, (1999), it can be defined as the plan to reduce and eliminate hazards and risk at the workplace… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Empirical Analyses on Occupational Health and Safety
There is evidence that providing a healthy and safe working environment has the potential to increase labor productivity and in turn increase business profits.
It is also evident that there are certain requirements needed to ensure the success of health and safety intervention and subsequent increase in productivity. Such requirements include a good level of cooperation between the management and employees and the working environment in which employees are engaged to work.
A number of researches have been conducted in the sub-sectors of the manufacturing industry, construction industry, service industry, petroleum and plastics, and electronics. One such study is by Makori (2008) on the influence of occupational health and the safety of manufacturing firms in Kenya… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Introduction
This chapter describes the methods and procedures used to collect and analyze data in order to determine the health and safety standards in Nigeria Unilever Nigeria Plc. Sections of the chapter include the study design, population, sample size and sampling procedures, instrumentation, data collection, and procedures for analysis and presentation.
- Study Design
A study design is a plan that explains the basic structure of the study. It provides the procedural outline for the conduct of the study (Amedahe, 2004). The study adopted a descriptive survey design to collect data for analysis.
The survey design was consistent with the description by Sarantakos (2004) and Fraenkel and Warren (2002), that surveys are methods of data collection in which information is gathered through oral or written interviews and could be structured, more formal or a combination of the approach. The authors stressed the need for consistency throughout the exercise to curtail errors… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
- Population
According to Fraenkel and Warren (2002), population refers to the complete set of individuals (subjects or events) having common characteristics in which the researcher is interested.
For the purpose of this study, the target population comprised of management, supervisors/line managers, and factory operation staff of Nigeria Unilever Nigeria Plc. Out of a total of 202 eligible staff, 120 selected staff comprising 30 females and 90 males was selected for the study… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Sampling and Sampling Procedures
According to Amedahe (2004), sampling is the process of selecting a portion of the population to represent the entire population in the study. A sample consists of a carefully selected unit of the population for a particular study (Sarantakos, 2005).
The general notion held by many researchers is that the larger the sample sizes the lower the risk of sampling errors occurring… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Table 3.1: The sample size of Respondents in the selected area
| Category of Respondents | Eligible staff | Selected staff |
| Management staff | 12 | 12 |
| Supervisors/Line managers | 65 | 30 |
| Operational Staff | 125 | 78 |
| Total | 202 | 120 |
Source: Survey data 2012 n = 120
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
- Introduction
This chapter presents the views from respondents who were elicited to find out the effects of health and safety standards on productivity in Nigeria Unilever Nigeria Plc.
Primary data were collected through questionnaires to address the objectives of the study which were to: identify health and safety standards in the organization; determine the effect of health and safety on employees‟ productivity; determine employees‟ level of understanding of health and safety policies.
Also to access the attitude of management towards the health and safety of employees and identify the challenges of health and safety standards in the organization.. (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
- Presentation and Analysis of Preliminary Data
The first part of this chapter is a presentation and analysis of the preliminary data obtained from the study. It involves the background information of the respondents. The variables involved are the gender of respondents, age, educational background, and the number of years they have worked in the organization. Data obtained have been presented in Tables 4.1.1, 4.1.2. 4.1.3. and 4.1.4.
Gender of Respondents
The respondents were asked to indicate their gender by ticking the appropriate column they belonged to. The purpose was to find out the number of males and females who actually participated in the study.
Table 4.1.1 shows that out of the 120 respondents who participated in the study, the majority 90 of the respondents representing 70.8% were males, while the remaining 30 respondents representing 29.2% being females. Naturally, males and females have different attitudes and views toward events at the workplace (Singer, 1996).
Table 4.1.1 Gender of respondents
| Gender | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
| Male | 90 | 70.8 |
| Female | 30 | 29.2 |
| Total | 120 | 100 |
Source: Field data, 2012
Age of Respondents
Table 4.1.2 depicts the age distribution of respondents who participated in the study. The purpose was to find out the average age of the employees who are actively involved in the operations within the organization.
A close look at the Table shows that 29 respondents representing 24.2% fall within the age bracket 20-29 years; 49 representing 40.8% fall within the age brackets 30-39 years.
Nineteen respondents representing 15.8% fall within
40-49 years while the remaining 23 representing 19.2% fall within the age brackets 50-59 years. The data shows that the majority of the employees in the organization fall within 30-39 years.
Table 4.1.2 Age of respondents
| Age | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
| 20 – 29 years | 29 | 24.2 |
| 30 – 39 years | 49 | 40.8 |
| 40 – 49 years | 19 | 15.8 |
| 50 – 59 years | 23 | 19.2 |
| Total | 120 | 100 |
Source: Field data, 2012
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CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusions
Based on the findings it can be concluded that occupational health and safety practices at Nigeria Unilever Nigeria Plc are not in conformity with what has been described as “best practices”.
This is because; responsibilities of employees and management are not clearly spelled out with regards to health and safety. Employees are not trained in strategies for protection against hazards at the workplace… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
Recommendations
From the findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations are made.
Management should be more responsible for the needs and concerns of their employees‟ safety and health by being more sensitive to the problems of the employees.
This can be carried out by the provision of a suggestion box or other avenues for employees to give their suggestions on how safety can be improved… (Scroll down for the link to get the Complete Chapter One to Five Project Material)
REFERENCES
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