Study Subjects
More (71%) men than women took part in this study; majority (64%) of the workers interviewed were below 35 years, few (12%) were between 40 - 50 years and above. Majority (72%) of the workers were married; 17% were single, 3% divorced, 3% separated and 5% were widowed (Figure 2). Only 14% of the workers had tertiary level education; 39% had secondary level education, while 26% had primary level education (Figure 3).
Figure 2: Distribution of workers of Goldtree (SL) Limited Company based on their marital status
Majority (72%) of the workers were married; few (3%) were divorced and separated respectively.
Figure 3: Distribution of workers of Goldtree (SL) Limited Company based on their educational status
Eighty percent of the workers at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company had some form of education; only 20% had no education.
Length of service of workers
There was an inverse correlation between the duration spent working at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company and the number of workers for that duration of time spent at the company; 43% of the workers had spent 3 – 5 years at their various departments; 12% had spent 6 - 8 years, while 7% had spent more than 8 years at their department (Figure 4).
Figure 4: Distribution of workers of Goldtree (SL) Limited Company based on their length of service
Majority of the workers have spent 0 – 5 years at Goldtree Company.
Workplace accidents, injuries and reporting
Majority (61%) of the workers did not encounter any form of occupational accidents or injuries during the period under review while 92% of the workers who encountered workplace accidents or injuries reported them immediately they occurred. Of those workers (n = 39, 39%) who encountered workplace accidents or injuries, 38.5% attributed their accident to the lack of adequate safety gears; (10.4%) inadequate training, 12.8% ignorance about OHS matters, (10.3%) workers non-compliance and carelessness, (2.6%) improper housekeeping of working tools, and (25.4%) a combination of all the above factors (Table 1).
Table 1: Factors responsible for workplace accidents or injuries among workers at
Goldtree (SL) Limited Company
Factors associated with workplace accidents and injuries
|
Responses
|
Percentage (%)
|
Lack of adequate safety gears
|
15
|
38.4
|
Lack of adequate training
|
4
|
10.3
|
Worker's ignorant on OHS matters
|
5
|
12.8
|
Worker's non-compliance and carelessness
|
4
|
10.3
|
Poor housekeeping and unsafe workplace
|
1
|
2.6
|
All of the above
|
10
|
25.6
|
Total
|
39
|
100.0
|
Majority (38.4%) of the occupational accidents at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company were associated with lack of adequate safety gears.
Likelihood of a workplace accident
We used logistic multivariate regression analysis to determine the odds of occupational accidents or injuries occurring at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company based on industrial and human factors. Workers who have spent 3 - 5 years on the job (AOR = 2.22, p = < 0.05), mill department workers (AOR = 3.31, p = < 0.05), believed that the management is committed to addressing health and safety issues (AOR = 2.49, p = < 0.05), believed that their working tools were in excellent condition (AOR = 3.13, p = < 0.05), or believed that they have rights and responsibilities of ensuring an effective workplace health and safety management including compliance to OHS measures, the right to refuse unsafe work and reporting occupational accident to the company’s management (AOR =1.11, p = < 0.05) have decreased odds of experiencing occupational accidents. Additionally, holding other covariate in the model constant, the odds of experiencing occupational accidents was elevated among workers who believed that management’s commitment to providing the appropriate personnel to handle health and safety issues was a challenge (AOR =7.57, p = < 0.05) in the company.
Table 2: Multivariate logistic regression analysis of factors associated with occupational accident Goldtree (SL) Limited Company
Variables
|
OR
|
p - value
|
AOR
|
95% CI
|
p - value
|
Mill Department
|
0.71
|
0.1
|
3.31
|
2.96 - 4.07
|
0.04
|
Length of work between 3 - 5 years
|
0.45
|
0.01
|
2.22
|
1.64 - 7.04
|
0.03
|
Company’s commitment on OHS
|
0.75
|
0.09
|
2.49
|
1.14 - 3.19
|
0.01
|
Excellent working logistics
|
0.51
|
0.02
|
3.13
|
1.99 - 4.66
|
0.01
|
Compliance with OHS measures
|
0.66
|
0.01
|
1.11
|
1.07- 3.54
|
0.03
|
Availability of OHS personnel
|
0.66
|
0.01
|
7.57
|
1.61 - 9.78
|
0.05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Workers who believed that the management of Goldtree (SL) Limited Company is being challenged to committing themselves in providing the appropriate personnel to handle OHS issues had high odds of experiencing workplace accident or injuries compared to workers who don’t believe.
Distribution of workplace accident with length of service
There is a positive correlation between the number of workplace accidents or injuries among workers and the length of service of workers (Figure 5). Of the 39 (39%) of the workers who were interviewed that reported workplace accidents or injuries,majority (56.4%) have been working at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company for at least 2 years; 33% have been working for 3 – 5 years, 7.7% have been working for 6 – 8 years while 2.6% have been working for more than 8 years (X2 = 9.8778, p-value = 0.02)
Figure 5: A graph showing length of service of respondents
Majority of the workers who experienced workplace accidents or injuries at Goldtree (SL) Limited Company during the study period had only spent at least two years at the job.