Assessing the awareness and capacity of brewery industry workers on environmental laws and regulations in Kawempe division.

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing the awareness and capacity of brewery industry workers on environmental laws and regulations in Kawempe Division. It was guided by specifically two objectives; determining the level of awareness of brewery workers on environmental laws and regulations and assessing the capacity of brewery companies to compliance to environmental laws and regulations. A questionnaire was used to collect information on awareness and an interview checklist was used to collect information on the capacity of the brewery companies to complying to environmental laws and regulations. Descriptive analysis was done where frequencies and percentage of cases on the level of awareness of workers was gotten, cross tabulation was used to determine how awareness varies among different workers and frequencies were also used in determining the staffing and infrastructural capacity of these brewery companies on compliance to environmental laws and regulations. It was found out that all the brewery workers were aware at least of one law with solid waste management with 73.3% of cases and the least known was ESIA with 6.7% of cases. Other laws known were effluent discharge with 40.0% of cases, noise emissions with 16.7% of cases and OHS with 43.3% of cases. Staffing and infrastructural capacity was fairy in all the three breweries; Banange Brewing Company, Parambot Breweries and Buddo distillers Company Limited. However, in all companies there was no top management support to achieving compliance, first aid facilities were not seen, there was little knowledge on environmental laws, no environmental management plan no air checking and biological monitoring, no safety data sheets for hazardous wastes, exhaust fumes and noise were not controlled in all the companies. Banange brewing company had no ETP. All these factories therefore should by mandate according to the law set all the required standards to ensure that workers are of all the laws in line with breweries and the staffing and infrastructure should also be improved. Banange Brewing Company should have an ETP to treat the effluents from the brewery.