Assessment of compliance of Employees and Management to Occupational Health & Safety Act in the Department of Public Safety in the North West Province / Neo Patricia Seleka

• Language: en
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10394/14794

The study was designed to determine the worker assessment of compliance to OHS act in the department of Public safety. One hundred and two (102) employees were selected randomly using table of random numbers from different directorates such as Human resources, Finance, Road safety, Crime prevention and Traffic management. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire which was made of personal characteristics and sections on level of compliance with OHS act, workers' attitude and constraints to OHS act employees. Data collected were coded and subjected to analysis using frequency count and percentages were used to describe the data. The results show that about 63% were male while 37% were female. In terms of age, majority of the respondents 56.9% are in the age bracket of 31 - 50 years. Fifty two percent (52%) of the respondents are black, with only 36.3% white. Majority (52%) of the respondents are single while 42% indicated married. About 47°/o of the workers do not have dependents while the remaining 52% have between 1 - 4 dependants. Only 7.8% of the workers interviewed in this study have been in the employment of Department of Public Safety for less than a year. Others have working experience of between 1 - 15 years of the employment policy by the government in the post apartheid period might be responsible for the trend of result. Majority (91.2%) of the respondent are Christians The educational level of the workers show that 40% of the respondents are Diploma holders while 7.8% have between BSc. and Ph.D. The results of the compliance status of the Department of Public Safety on the OSHA Act, shows that from a list of 12 activities in the OSHA Act, workers indicated that the degree of compliance was high for provision and maintenance of systems of work, plant and machinery that, as far as is reasonably practicable, are safe and without risks to health (68%) causing all employees to be informed regarding the scope of their authority as contemplated in section 37 (1) (b) (66.7%). Every employer shall conduct his undertaking in such a manner as to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that persons other than those in his employment who may be directly affected by his activities are not thereby exposed to hazards to their health or safety (63.7%). The results of the attitudinal disposition of workers to level of compliance with OHS Act in the Department of Public Safety covered six major areas and 23 attitudinal statement, workers were generally indifferent. The general trend is also that there were few workers who indicated that they were favourably disposed to the level of compliance by management on OHS issue. Attitude towards OHS covered four major areas and 19 attitudinal statements, workers were generally unfavourable to OHS Act and its implementation in the Department of Public Safety. The results show that prominent constraints militating against compliance with the OHS Act in their work place are lack of management buy-in and support in OHS issues (79.4%); lack of insight in OHS implications by management (80.2%); lack of control of human behaviour and attitude of workers towards OHS (84.3% ); lack of training on new equipments and machines (94.2°/o ); none awareness campaign on OHS policies (84.3% ); poor information sharing on OHS related aspects (90.2% ) and lack of understanding of OHS and implications by management (79.4°/o ). There is a need to improve the compliance level with OHS Act in order to protect the workers and enhance their productivity. === Thesis (MBA) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2011