THE EFFECT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ON JOB PERFORMANCE (PRODUCTIVITY) OF EMPLOYEES OF BLUE SKIES GHANA LIMITED

ABSTRACT

Due to the high rate of unemployment situation in Ghana some organizations have taken for granted the health and safety issues of their employees. Much research has been conducted in the area of health and safety in the mining and the construction sectors as well as the wood processing industry in Kumasi but it seems much attention has not been paid to research into health and safety of employees in the agro processing industry especially the fruit processing sector which is an emerging area in Ghana. These studies have highlighted the dangers workers are exposed to while trying to earn income for the upkeep of their families. Unfortunately in Ghana as of now there is no known comprehensive national policy guiding work place health and safety of employees apart from Act 651 of the Labour law 2003 which admonishes employers not to expose their workers to hazards that subsequently cause injury at work. This same act also entreats workers to work within the employer‘s standard operating procedures that have been provided with health and safety requirements incorporated. Despite the above mentioned act and efforts by the factories inspectorate division of the ministry of employment and labour relation to ensuring that workers work in a safe and healthy environment, industrial workers still suffer a lot of job related injuries of which Blue skies Ghana limited is no exceptional. The questions here are: what role does management of blue skies Ghana limited play to keep workers safe and healthy at work?  What is the attitude of the employees to health and safety issues at the work place?  And what is the impact of the employees‘ health and safety on their productivity. The mixed method approach and a cross-sectional survey design were adopted in gathering the data for the study. The study shows that there is high level of knowledge among the employees of blue skies concerning health and safety at work and therefore have positive attitude to occupational health and safety (OHS) issues in the firm. The study also revealed that the management has a view that healthy staff makes healthy organization which also increases productivity in the firm and hence management has put in place measures to ensure staff‘s health and safety. In conclusion Blue skies Ghana take the safety and health of the employees seriously so has series of programs to increase their knowledge about work place safety and health and strictly enforces these safety measures. Ghana‘s draft policy on Occupational Health and Safety should be fast-tracked to ensure that employers are bound by the rules to take safety training of their staff serious as blue skies Ghana has done. Finally policy makers can use blue skies Ghana limited as case study or a mentoring firm for other companies in Ghana in terms of health and safety issues of the workers.