Study on fleet safety in selected beverage industries in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Safety is a key component in any organization and the safety culture of an organization determines its development objectives and its profitability. According to the World Health Organization, it is estimated that road traffic accidents cause 1.3million deaths and 20-50 million disabilities worldwide with an estimated cost of US$500 billion a year. Recent studies from Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority indicate that road related accidents have a huge impact on the social and economic costs. The report further reveals an estimated annual cost of 14 billion Kenya shillings, (approximately 160M USD) due to road traffic injuries to the country’s economy, an equivalent of 5% of the country’s GDP. This research sought to find out how fleet safety is being implemented in the beverage industries within the Nairobi County. The food and beverage industry in Kenya comprises of small unit organizations that are family owned to large multinational companies like Coca-Cola, Kenya Breweries limited among others which add value to the agricultural output and provide linkages to the other sectors through transportation of goods and other commodities. These activities suggest that the industry has a lot of potential in building the economy. According to a report by investment Kenya in 2013, the fleet safety management which falls under the Transport and Infrastructure sector contributes about 11% of Kenya’s GDP therefore becomes a key aspect of the industry as it facilitates this growth. This study focused on five key beverage industries within the Nairobi County adopting a cross sectional survey design with an exposed target population of 600 consisting of drivers, turn boys, forklift operators and the management. Simple random sampling was used with questionnaires being adopted for interviews and observation. Results showed an increasing trend of accidents across the organizations over the past five years. These accidents were majorly attributed to driver fatigue 30(68.2%), high speed 23(52.3%) and aggressive driving behavior 17(38.6%). The long working hours for drivers as well as lack of a clear policy on the driving duration pointed to the driver fatigue as the leading cause of accidents. The obtained data further revealed that majority of the drivers (78%) were aware that they have a responsibility for their safety and also for other users. According to the drivers, mobile phone use while driving was a major cause of distraction leading to accidents (78%). This research reveals that fatigue and use of mobile phones on the road while driving are the leading causes of accidents on the road. According to this research, Fleet Safety policies are in place within the organizations but there are no clear guidelines on the working hours for drivers in a 24 hours working day and how that should be enforced. Despite a good training and awareness record from the sampled organizations, there’s need to review the training plans to include real issues coupled with other safety programs to ensure an effective fleet safety management which is currently lacking.. Therefore, the study calls for management commitment and support in enforcing the rules related to ‘do not use mobile phones’ while on the wheel and review the working hours to include mandatory breaks for long journeys. The industries should work with the NTSA to ensure full implementation of these rules which could mean introduction of a ticketing or checking system for all truck drivers on the roads to confirm that they are taking necessary breaks and complying with other rules set aside by the authorities.