The Status of Occupational Safety and Health and Effectiveness of Contractor Management Programs at Kenya Breweries Limited

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 xx 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.