| dc.description.abstract | Running of utility organizations should be implemented in a manner that does not only ensure but also enhances the safety and health of the workers, visitors, consumers, the public and the environment in line with the relevant government legislation, regulation and international best practices. The Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC) is a utility organization responsible for transmission and distribution of electricity through-out Kenya. The organization employs over 10,000 people and has an interconnected network of transmission and distribution power lines covering about 44,000 Km.
Nationwide, the Accident Frequency Rate (AFR), which is an international standard of measuring occurrence of accidents at a workplace, had reached highs of 6.9 with the lowest having been recorded at 1.9 against an acceptable benchmark of 0.5. Much as the fatalities had significantly reduced over the last four financial years, they were still at alarming levels by the end of the financial year ending June 2009. This situation created enough reason for the researcher to embark on this study with a view of identifying areas within KPLC's operations and organizational culture that were contributing to this unwanted scenario. The research was guided by objectives that focused on organizational safety culture, competence and training of the workers, compliance to statutory requirements and availability and adherence to operating procedures at KPLC' s workplaces.
Studies that have been carried out indicate that the developing economies are most affected by workplace injuries at a rate that is 10 to 20 times higher than in the developed world. However, causes of these injuries are two; 90% are due to unsafe acts (inadequacies in behavior of persons) and 10% are due to unsafe conditions (deficiencies in the work environment). The research thus set out to relate the findings of the study to previous researches in this field.
The researcher conducted a descriptive research at KPLC's Coast region workplace which has a total of 1200 members of staff and 44 contractors. Since KPLC is represented regionally countrywide, the study was conducted within the Coast Region, specifically at the Regional Head office at Electricity House and Mbaraki complex. Self-administered questionnaires were developed and used to collect data from the respondents. Workplace Safety was confirmed to exist at KPLC with a majority of 96.6% of the respondents indicating that they perceived the organization's culture to be safety oriented with 69.5% of the respondents indicating that they had attended courses tailored on emergency preparedness. However, negative attitudes in the form of negligence and ignorance exhibited through non-use of safety gear or following of written operational procedures by some of the members of staff were noted that contributed to some of the recorded accidents at the organization's workplaces.
One big challenge that the study noted was on safety of members of public; the researcher made recommendations for KPLC to engage more efforts on this in light of the many fatalities involving school-going children in particular, due to their lack of knowledge of the hazards posed by live power lines and due to the effects of vandalism on KPLC's infrastructure. | en_US |
