Abstract:
Kenya Breweries limited is involved in the manufacture and sale of alcoholic and nonalcoholic
beverages. A significant amount of work in this company is outsourced to
contractors. The study sought to develop an in-depth understanding of the current safety
and health management programs at Kenya Breweries Limited by examining the
perspectives of staff and contractors who are certified to access the workplace. The
study employed a descriptive cross sectional study design. Departments / sections of
KBL were selected purposively and then grouped into 4 clusters namely; Engineering &
services, Manufacturing, Sales-Marketing & Logistics and HR & Security. Data
collection tools were questionnaires, observation and review of records. All data
underwent scrutiny for logical inconsistencies; skip patterns and missing values. The
percentages and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were presented. A total of
302(100%) workers participated in this study, of which 18% were fulltime KBL
employees and 82% were contractors. The study showed that, 70.5% of the participants
had college education and above although there was no significant association between
educational level and awareness of OSH. There was significant association (p=0.00)
between manufacturing department and workers educational level. Most (93.4%)
workers were aware of all hazards in their respective workplaces although 1.3%
confirmed that they were not aware of all hazards in their respective workplaces; 95.0%
of workers confirmed that OSH policies were adequate. Majority (93.6%) confirmed that
safety information was visible to all staff. The most prevalent cause of injury at KBL
was established to be broken glass (cullet), accounting for 66.5% of all respondents who
had sustained occupational injuries. About 84.7% of all the workers confirmed that
introduction of contractor safety passport training was effective in improving OSH
performance at KBL. For OSH training to be effective, the trained individuals should
apply the knowledge at their respective work station which was evident in both cadres of
staff at KBL. Introduction of contactor safety passport training and appointment of
safety officers were identified as the most effective programs in improving OSH
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performance, particularly of contractors. Records from the company point to a
significant improvement of performance seen from accident statistics lens with over
81% reduction in accidents between 2010 and 2014. Further research is recommended in similar firms, so as to help in setting feasible benchmark for similar manufacturing
industries.
