Occupational Health and Safety Management and Turnover Intention in the Ghanaian Mining Sector

• Main Authors: Kwesi Amponsah-Tawiah, Michael Akomeah Ofori Ntow, Justice Mensah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2016-03-01
• Series: Safety and Health at Work
• Subjects: mining; safety facilities; safety leadership; safety supervision and safety procedure; turnover intention
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791115000700

Background: The mining industry is considered as one of the most dangerous and hazardous industries and the need for effective and efficient occupational health and safety management is critical to safeguard workers and the industry. Despite the dangers and hazards present in the mining industry, only few studies have focused on how occupational health and safety and turnover intentions in the mines. Method: The study suing a cross-sectional survey design collected quantitative data from the 255 mine workers that were conveniently sampled from the Ghanaian mining industry. The data collection tools were standardized questionnaires that measured occupational health and safety management and turnover intentions. These scales were also pretested before their usage in actual data collection. Results: The correlation coefficient showed that a negative relationship existed between dimensions of occupational health and safety management and turnover intention; safety leadership (r = −0.33, p < 0.01); supervision (r = −0.26, p < 0.01); safety facilities and equipment (r = −0.32, p < 0.01); safety procedure (r = −0.27, p < 0.01). Among these dimensions, safety leadership and safety facility were significant predictors of turnover intention, (β = −0.28, p < 0.01) and (β = −0.24, p < 0.01) respectively. The study also found that turnover intention of employees is heavily influenced by the commitment of safety leadership in ensuring the effective formulation of policies and supervision of occupational health and safety at the workplace. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that safety leadership is crucial in the administration of occupational health and safety and reducing turnover intention in organizations.