Organizational factors influencing occupational safety and health practices: a comparative study of new Kenya Cooperative Creameries and Daima Dairy

Abstract

All organizations have a moral and legal duty to protect the wellbeing, health and safety of workers. Despite the enactment of the OSH Act in 2007, with aim of preventing OSH related accidents/injuries/illnesses at all workplaces in Kenya, there are still increasing number of injuries/accidents/illness including deaths reported by DOSHS. The main objective of the study was to determine the organizational factors that influence OSH practices at New KCC Dandora Factory and Daima Dairy. The specific objectives were; to establish to what extent staff protection, participation and training influence OSH practices at New KCC Dandora Factory and Daima Dairy. The study employed cross-sectional comparative case study research design. Data was collected using a standard self-administered questionnaire, checklist and interview. The results were presented in tables with frequencies and percentages for comparison. The findings of the study were that New KCC and Daima were at par on levels of staff protection, while New KCC was doing better on staff participation and staff training. On protection of staff, there were measures in place to protect staff including statutory inspection of the key machinery, shielding/guarding of hazardous machines, provision of good working environment and provision of protective gear. On staff participation, findings indicated that there were platforms for staff to report incidents and share ideas for improvement as outlined in OSHA 2007. On training, it was established that fire safety and first aid trainings were common and were confirmed to be effective in preventing injuries/accidents/illnesses. In conclusion, the three factors were confirmed to have great impact on OSH practices and if streamlined would lead to better performance of the OSH programs. The study recommends that DOSHS should be more proactive in conducting spot checks at all workplaces to confirm safety status; workplaces should apply best practices and a proactive approach surpassing minimum requirements required by regulations; the organizations should increase the frequency of evaluation of the OSH performance and stop relying on mandatory annual self-audits for continuous improvement and look into implementing ISO 45001 to increase safety and health compliance; employee medical examinations should be conducted regularly; and that there should be refresher trainings for first aid and fire safety as per applicable regulations and introduction of training needs analysis as well as impact analysis after training.