EFFECTS OF OCCUPATION SAFETY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY: A CASE OF NAKURU WATER AND SANITATION COMPANY

Abstract

The International Labour Organization estimates that, globally, about 2.2 million people die annually from occupational accidents and diseases another 270 million suffer from serious non-fatal injuries while 160 million fall ill for shorter or longer periods from work-related causes. The estimated costs of occupational accidents and occupational diseases amount to approximately 4 percent of the world’s gross domestic product. This implies a considerable loss resulting to negative impact on economic growth and which puts a burden to the society. Thus preventing occupational accidents and diseases should make economic sense for society as well as being good business practice for companies. Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company is one of the institutions within Nakuru County involved in dangerous activities. However, the health and safety practices in place and how they affect employee productivity is not clear. The general objective of the study therefore was to assess the effects of safety and health management on employee productivity at Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company. Specific objectives of the study were: to establish the effects of management commitment to safety and health affects employee productivity, to assess how job risk and hazard assessment affects employee productivity, to establish how provision of personal protective equipment affects the productivity of employees and to assess the effects of safety trainings on productivity of employees at Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Target population comprised all the technical staff of Nakuru Water and Sanitation Services Company in water treatment and distribution, there is 335 staff in field offices dealing with water distribution that formed the target population. These include plumbers, technicians, engineers and chemists. A sample of 77 technical staff was selected using stratified random sampling technique. Primary data was collected using self administered questionnaires while in the analysis, descriptive statistics were obtained for all objectives which include the mean, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages. Relationship between occupational safety and health management and employee productivity was obtained using a regression analysis. The study found out that Management commitment to implementation of occupation safety and health has the highest effect on employee productivity followed by provision of personal protective equipment and safety trainings. Less emphasis was placed on job risk and hazard assessment which was also found not to have a significant direct effect on employee productivity. The study therefore recommended that management commitment should be emphasized in implementation of occupational safety and health across all industries as it creates a social bond with the employees which translate to improvement in productivity. Further, Nakuru Water and Sanitation Company should place greater emphasis and enhance proactive job risk and hazard assessment for both routine and new projects.