Adherence to Occupational Safety and Health Measures by Employees in Selected Restaurants in Kampala District.

Abstract

Background The study was carried out to identify the reasons for low levels of adherence to occupational safety and health measures among the restaurant workers. The study was done because despite the availability of effective interventions to prevent occupational hazards and to protect and promote health at work place, there are still noticeable accidents among employees in restaurants due to gaps in adherence to OSH measures. Objective The main objective under study was to assess the factors influencing the adherence to occupational safety and health measures by employees in selected restaurants in Kampala District. Methodology The study followed quantitative and qualitative research methods using a cross-sectional survey design. The target population comprised of restaurant kitchen workers including; chefs, waiters, waitresses, managers and cleaners in the selected restaurants and 230 workers were interviewed. Purposive sampling procedure was employed to provide the data relevant to the study. Research administered questionnaires and key informant interviews were used to collect data. With the quantitative tools, the analysis was done using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 16.0) programme, Microsoft excel, absolute figures, tables, percentages and statistical tools such as graphs, charts were used. Whereas for qualitative, analysis of feedback from interviews was done manually. Results The major findings in this study were as follows; Out of the 230 interviewed respondents, 54.40% of them adhered to OSH measures and the use of gloves was least adhered to with only 12 (5.2%) adherence. The study revealed that the restaurant population is also dominated by males with 124(53.9%) than females 106 (46.1%). At the bivariate analysis, under the socio-demographic factors, gender (p-value <0.001) and monthly income (p-value <0.001) were found to have a significant influence on the restaurant worker’s adherence to OSH measures. Awareness of precautionary measures against risks (p-value 0.035) and awareness of the importance of personal protective gears (p-value 0.023) were found to have some statistically significant influence on the restaurant worker’s adherence to OSH measures. Distance to work (p-value<0.048), cleaning schedule prepared (p-value<0.001) and company providing personal protective equipment (p-value <0.001) under the institutional factors were found to have a significant influence on the workers adherence to OSH measures. At multivariate analysis, under gender the males were 2.4 times more likely to adhere to OSH measures than the female workers (OR=2.4, 95% C.I 1.1-5.3, P-value=0.029). The restaurant workers who said were aware of the precautionary measures were 17 times more likely to adhere to safety measures than workers who were not aware (OR=16.9, 95% C.I6.7-42.7, P-value= <0.001). The workers who said that the management provided safety equipments were 3 times more likely to adhere to safety measures than those who claimed that management did not provide anything (OR=3.2, 95% C.I 1.5-6.8, P-value= 0.003). Conclusion and Recommendations In conclusion, the restaurant worker’s gender, knowledge of precautionary measures and their acknowledgement of management providing safety equipment significantly influenced their adherence to OSH measures at work. The study recommends emphasis be put on the female restaurant workers to adhere to safety measures, workers focusing on precautionary measures against risks at work and management of restaurants insisting on the availability of safety equipments.