Effect of Risk Management Processes on Safety Culture in Selected Manufacturing Firms in Lagos

Effect of Risk Management Processes on Safety Culture in Selected Manufacturing Firms in Lagos

CHAPTER ONE

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The specific objectives of the study include the following:

To identify the relationship between industrial safety management and employee
To identify the hazards encountered by employees in the Nigerian manufacturing Sector.
To bring to the fore safety provisions for employees in the manufacturing Industry.
To ascertain how orientation and training influence safety management in the manufacturing
To ascertain how safety issues are managed in the manufacturing industry.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

THE CONCEPT OF SAFETYMANAGEMENT

Changes in managerial thinking with regard to safety and health of employees have undergone many development stages. Originally, the only form of incentives was salary. But very little concern was shown for workers’ safety and general welfare. The vogue was to satisfy workers’ immediate material needs while neglecting the important need, need for a conducive working environment. Modern safety movement is believed to have started around 1912 with the First Cooperative Safety Congress and the Organization of the National Safety of (USA). The early movement was primarily interested in acquainting the general public with the fact that there existed in business a high incidence of industrially caused accidents and diseases. The campaign became necessary because the well being of workers then depended entirely on the discretion of their employers. Any expenditure which had no direct bearing on increase profit, was considered not worthy and therefore many incidental expenses had to be borne by the workers themselves. Many employers then accepted no responsibility voluntarily to compensate victims of hazardous working conditions. This situation continued for sometime even with the campaigns. As owners, they directed the mode of behavior in the workplace, (Nwachukwu, 1992:29).

The first indication of change for better of employees was the work of a British Social reformer and industrialist named Robert Owen, which was complimented by a Philosopher named Andrew Ure. There systematic but forceful call for positive change was according to the report, based on their conviction that improving workplace condition would increase workers productivity. The Elton Mayo’s in the famous Hawthorne Plant studies of Western Electric Company in the US, showed that increase in production would result by providing enabling environment in the workplace, (Nwachukwu, 1992:27).

Gradually, many employers began to realize that good working environment is also good business. This realization led to many technological break-through with the aim of making the working environment free from accidents. It has become a universal acceptance, much later, that government regulations in this regard are not for the benefit of the workers alone, but also the employers as well. Between 1960, this subject underwent a legal metamorphosis. For example the British Parliament placed into law, the offices, shops and railway and premises Act of 1963, with the aim of protecting employees against unsafe working conditions.

This followed much later by the Health and Safety of work Act of 1974, with the aim of giving wider protection to both office and factory workers. Similarly, in the United State of America, the occupational safety and health Act of 1970 came into existence as a result of increasing national concern with unsolved problems of safety at workplaces. The Act imposes a duty on all employers to provide a safe and conducive working environment for their workers,(Holt, 1992:6).

In Nigeria, the situation is not different, (Shell, 1998:4), sees safety management system as an integrated quality management system designed for managing risks within the manufacturing industry, so as to ensure the protection of people, assets reputation and the environment from the hazard of industrial activities. Safety and productivity are goals organizations would desire to achieve. According to Greg, author of “SWART’ (a business journal). Productivity plays a part in maintaining the calculated rate of a firm’s ability to make things so as to sustain its life span. Safety therefore ensures that such productivity is maintained at little or no harm to the people involved or associated with, (Greg, 1999:8).

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODLOGY

This chapter discusses the various methods and techniques adopted in this study. It covers the overall research plan and design, that guided the process of data collection and the range of approaches used to collect the data. The chapter contains sources of data collection, area of the study, population and sampling procedure, instrument for data collection, reliability, and validity of the instrument.

RESEARCH DESIGN

According to Ikeagwu (1988), research design is the structure and planning of the entire approach to a problem for research. It is a plan for collecting and analyzing data in order to answer the investigator’s question. In this research, a survey research method was used because it is cost effective, useful in describing a large population, and dependable. This research method is dependable because it makes it possible for respondents to be as open and honest as possible with their answers. The survey research method involves the use of questionnaire and oral interview to obtain information from respondents.

SOURCES OF DATA

Sources of data include primary and secondary sources.

Primary Source: .Primary source of data were original data collected basically for the purpose of the study. The primary data for this study came from questionnaire and interview.

Secondary Source: Secondary data were obtained from review of several publications that were relevant to the study. These were textbooks, journals, newspapers, and internet.

CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents, analyzes and interprets the data collected for the study. Data were presented in frequency tables and percentages were used for data analysis. From table 4.1 below a total of three hundred and one (301) copies of the questionnaire which were distributed to the respondents, two hundred and seventy eight (278) representing 92.3% were duly completed and returned, while twenty three (23) representing 7.7% copies were not returned.

CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS

There is a significant relationship between industrial safety management and employee

Test of hypothesis one confirmed this. (Z_c = 0.865; P < 0.05)

Physical and Chemical hazards are the hazards encountered in the manufacturing industry.

Test of hypothesis two confirmed this. (Z_c = 9.401 > Z_t = 1.96; P < 0.05)

3. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as safety helmets, safety belts, safety shoes, hand gloves are safety provisions for employees in the manufacturing industry.

Test of hypothesis three confirmed this. Z_c = 11.424 > Z_t 1.96; P < 0.05)

Orientation and training have significant influence on safety management implementation in the manufacturing industry.

Test of hypothesis four confirmed this. (X²_c = 213.897 > X²_t 9.49; P < 0.05) 5 . Safety issues in the manufacturing industry were managed by making the environment hazard free to a great extent.

Test of hypothesis five confirmed this. (X²_c = 263.426 > X²_t 9.49 ; P < 0.05)

CONCLUSION:

Safety in every human endeavor is first, and must come first both in the business organizations and in our individual lives, to enable us perform efficiently and effectively. Safety on the other hand, provide the condition whereby the probability of accident is minimum, and it contributes to the elimination of unsafe conditions and unsafe acts.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made:

Safety policies and procedures should be reviewed whenever there are changes in operating conditions to make them more
Management should recruit professionally competent as well motivated safety officers as opposed to quacks and
The Federal Government should enacts and enforces laws that provide for stiffer penalties for employers of labour that do not implement safe work practices or records accidents in their operations.
Management should adopt a proactive safety policy and management system that focuses more on the latent causes of accidents as opposed to the immediate

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