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

Abstract

Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) is involved in the manufacture and sale of alcoholic and non-alcoholic 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 occupational safety and health (OSH) management programs at KBL 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 were selected purposively and divided into 4 clusters namely; Engineering & Services, Manufacturing, Sales-Marketing & Logistics and HR & Security. Data collection tools were questionnaires, observation and retrieval from records. All data forms underwent scrutiny for logical inconsistencies; skip patterns and missing values. The percentages and their 95% confidence intervals were presented.

A total of 302 (100%) workers participated in this study, of which 18% were fulltime KBL employees and 82% were contractors. In this study 70.5% had college education and above although there was no significant association between educational level and awareness of OSH. Most (93.4%) workers were 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. Introduction of contactor safety passport training and appointment of safety officers were identified as the most effective programs in improving OSH 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 OSH benchmarks for manufacturing industries.

Keywords: occupational safety and health, hazards, risks, awareness, contractor management programs