Adherence to safety protocols among factory workers of an industrial municipality in southern Ghana.

Abstract

Background: A critical component of safety in the work environment is adherence to safety protocols for the protection of workers. The violation of safety procedures in the workplace has resulted in over a million workplace accidents globally, majority of which are reported in industrial hubs of low income countries. Methods: Cross-sectional design was used to quantitatively study 241 factory workers to establish demographic factors influencing adherence to safety protocols. Results: The results indicated that age (p<0.001), sex (p<0.001), education (p=0.035) and job position/rank (p=0.013) influenced adherence to safety protocols significantly. Females were more likely to adhere to safety protocols than males [odds ratio (OR)=2.61 (95% C.I 1.44–4.73), p=0.002]. Workers with University degrees had higher likelihood of adhering to safety protocols compared with Certificate holders [odds ratio (OR)=2.81 (95% C.I 1.14–6.95), p=0.025]. The odds of adherence to safety protocol among supervisors was 40% less than that of operators of factory equipment [odds ratio (OR)=0.42 (95% C.I 0.21–0.87), p=0.019]. Conclusion: Our findings show that supervisors’ report of poor adherence to safety protocols is a major problem which stems from the responsibility of the employer, which if not attended to, could worsen safety and health hazards among factory workers in low income countries.