Evaluation of health and safety practices and policies at Electricity Company of Ghana, the Case of the Ashanti East Region

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2012-07-26
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Employers in Ghana are required by the Ghana Labour Act 2003, Act 651 (sections 118, 119 and 120) to ensure their employees are not exposed to conditions that would lead them to work-related injuries or illnesses. Workplace is associated with numerous risks in connection with injury or illness, which results from accidents. Some workers in ECG climb long poles and work with life wires and some also stay at the control rooms and the substations that are full of electro-magnetic x-ray machines for long hours. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the health and safety policies and practices at the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ashanti East Region. In achieving the study objectives, 109 respondents were used which included one (1) top level management, nine (9) middle level management, twenty five (25) frontline officers and gang leaders and seventy four (74) lower level employees. The study made use of two research instruments: questionnaires and interviews. Data from questionnaires were analysed using the SPSS package. The study found higher level of awareness about ECG safety policies but significant numbers of such employees do not know the content of such policy. The study revealed that employees normally encounter electrical shocks, burns, conductor cut when they are not well protected. The study revealed that safety planning, monitoring and implementation are carried out at the various levels at ECG. It was however found that policy on health and safety are not carried out fully as 50% of the respondents claim that they have not had any training on health and safety. This implies that a greater majority of employees at ECG were not following the policy for lack of knowledge. A situation that looks worrying for a company like ECG. It was recommended that all newly and existing employees should be educated and trained so that all the workers will be aware of the health and safety issues in the policy. It was also suggested that employees should be involved in decision making on health and safety issues to engender ownership and commitment.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Managerial Science in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Keywords
Citation