Maintaining Health and Safety at Workplace: Employee and Employer’s Role in Ensuring a Safe Working Environment

Abstract

The concern for health and safety is legitimate in every context of human enterprise. In schools, for teaching staff’s safety to be guaranteed, the equipment available should be properly maintained and installation for non-existent ones done according to the health and safety policies. With a focus on Mbooni West district, this paper reports the findings of a survey which focused on the health and safety of teachers in secondary schools in the region. Many secondary school administrators do not consider teaching staff’s involvement in recommending policies and procedures in curbing safety hazards. This makes it difficult for the teaching staff to take responsibility for their own safety. The study thus sought to establish teachers’ perspectives on their role in ensuring health and safety workplaces in secondary schools. The study targeted all teachers and deputy principals working under Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and those working under the secondary schools’ Board of Management (BOM). Although the study aimed survey principles, they were not available during the data collection period. The study was conducted using the descriptive research design. A questionnaire guide was used for data collection which was then analyzed by the use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. Frequency tables and charts were used for data presentation. From the findings, it emerged that majority of the teaching staff were not involved in the training programs that would equip them with safety skills in their workplace. Most of them were not involved in discussing safety policies in the workplace. This to a large extent jeopardized the safety of teachers at workplace affecting their preparedness on matters pertaining health hazards and thus their general performance. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, in conjunction with the school administrations organize training programs for the teaching staff, involve teachers in discussion of safety policies to align them with the institutions strategic plans as far as Health and Safety at workplace is concerned.

Keywords: Health and Safety, Teaching staff, Teachers Service Commission