Effects of Safety Intervention Practices among Selected Sawmill Workers in Sawmills in Delta State, Nigeria

¹Odibo A.A., ¹Nwaogazie I.L., ²Achalu E.I., and ¹Ugbebor J.N.

¹Centre for Occupation Health, Safety and Environment, Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

²Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education, Faculty of Education, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Accepted April 26, 2018

This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of safety education as safety-intervention programme on Sawmill workers in Delta State. Selected study area was 21 sawmills located within 3 local government areas (Sapele, Warri-south and Udu) in Delta State. Purposive sampling was adopted for selection of the 3 sawmills locations, while systematic and simple random sampling was used to select 21 sawmill sites and respondents (210) respectively. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Collected data were subjected to normality test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test, Knowledge Attitude, Practice and Skill (KAPS) analyses and regression analysis. The output from the pre-intervention revealed fair knowledge, attitude, practice and skills of respondents when compared to the post-intervention output that revealed1.51, 1.82 and 1.89 out of 2 for Sapele, Warri and Udu, respectively for awareness of occupational hazards; 2.52, 2.88 and 2.94 out of 3 for Sapele, Warri and Udu, respectively on knowledge of physicals; 2.49, 2.96 and 2.98 out of 3 for Sapele, Warri and Udu, respectively for chemical hazards; and 2.41, 2.91 and 2.96 out of 3 for Sapele, Warri and Udu on mechanical hazards. Furthermore, comparing the resultant grand means of the pre and post intervention assessments, it revealed high improvement (2.41, 3.18 and 3.35 out of 4 for Sapele, Warri and Udu) on the attitude of the workers towards occupational hazards. Looking at their safety practices a notable increase was recorded (2.44, 3.12 and 3.31 out of 4 for Sapele, Warri and Udu). Also recorded was an increase in skills as related to occupational safety (2.60, 3.37 and 3.40 out of 4 for Sapele, Warri and Udu. The regression analyses produced a goodness of fits for Sapele, Warri and Udu sawmills of 0.2016 (20.16%), 0.6041 (60.41%), 0.6813 (68.13%), it also, revealed that the intervention had positive contributions on the attitude of the respondents of both Experimental groups, (ie Warri and Udu classes) safety practice unlike the control (Sapele class) where there no intervention.

Key words: Occupational Hazards, Safety Education, Intervention, Delta State.

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