Examining the Occupational Health and Safety Risks associated with Telecommunication Tower Construction in Kampala,Uganda
Abstract
Occupational health and safety have been defined as, the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and control of hazards arising in or from a workplace that would impair the health and well-being of workers.
Over the last decade, Uganda’s population has increased drastically and so has mobile phone connectivity. Broadband cellular subscriptions have increased from 12 million a decade ago to 21.5 million today, according to data from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), which is the telecommunications industry regulator. This increased growth has led to an urgent need for new towers to keep up with this increasing demand for cellular. This has introduced new opportunities for personnel to highly specialize in the construction and maintenance works of these towers. However, this has led to the exposure of workers to work accidents, which is a major issue in occupational safety and health.
The limited studies done in Uganda on OSH risk relating to this industry have contributed to a number of accidents on telecom sites. Therefore, the main objective of conducting this research was to examine the occupational health and safety risks associated with telecommunication tower construction in Kampala and Wakiso districts in Uganda. This was to ensure that the risks of accidents are reduced. The analysis was conducted using SPSS and Microsoft Excel for coming up with Tables, pie charts, and bar graphs.
The findings in this research reveal that the most prevalent risks on telecom tower construction sites were: falling from great heights & objects; slips and trips and worker fatigue while the least faced risk was electrocution and work equipment failure. These risks can be addressed by publishing more comprehensive research relating to OSH risks in the telecom industry in Uganda, PPE enforcement, and coming up with more consistent worker training policies and regulations among others.