Abstract:
The metal fabrication sector involves a variety of processes, activities, products, and by-products.
This involves various interventions such as milling, turning, welding, drilling, and grinding. Firms in
this sector use one or a combination of these interventions where machinery is used, which can
expose workers to machinery hazards if proper safety procedures are not observed. Occupational
Safety and Health (OSH) is vital in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions,
especially in mechanical engineering programmes where metal fabrication is practised. The
objective of this study was to assess the awareness of occupational machinery hazards in
mechanical engineering workshops in TVET Institutions. The study adopted a descriptive research
design and employed a structured questionnaire for data collection. Purposive sampling was used
to identify institutions participating in the study. SPSS version 25 was used to analyse the data and
present it in tables and graphs. Noise (90.4%) and vibration (71.9%) were reported as the most
common occupational hazards, respectively, in mechanical engineering workshops. Regarding
workstations, the grinding section (39.4%) and milling section (15.8%) were reported as
experiencing high levels of noise. The study recommends that adequate control measures be put
in place to mitigate against these hazards.
