Knowledge, attitudes and practices on occupational and healthy safety in carpentry workshops in Lubaga Division, Kampala City.

Abstract

The study examined the knowledge, attitudes and practices on occupational and healthy safety in carpentry workshops in Lubaga division, Kampala City. The study was underpinned by three objectives which included assessing the extent to which Lubaga Division carpentry workers know about occupational and healthy safety, analysing the attitudes of Lubaga Division carpentry workers towards occupational and healthy safety, evaluating practices that ensure occupational and healthy safety in their workshops. The majority of the carpenters, that is 69.3% had knowledge about occupational and healthy safety in carpentry workshops compared to 30.7% who did not. Respondents who had knowledge generally answered that Occupational and healthy safety is the set of practices aimed at caring for the protection and wellbeing of people engaged in work. It is the highest degree of physical, mental, and social wellbeing of workers. It deals with all aspects of health and safety at the workplace. Occupational and healthy safety is designed to protect workers from potential risks and hazards on the job, assisting with everything from injury to injury-care. Most of the carpenters, that is 95.5%, had a good attitude towards occupational and healthy safety in carpentry workshops. Amongst those who had a good attitude towards occupational and health safety in carpentry workshops, the majority reasoned that it protects workers’ lives followed by those reasoned that it protects the environment. This was then followed by those who responded that it protects timber and its products, then followed by those who reasoned that it protects the environment. The minority responded that it encourages team-work. Those who had a bad attitude towards occupational and health safety in carpentry workshops gave majorly two reasons for their response. The first response was that it is expensive and the second one was that it is time-consuming. Findings revealed that there was no statistical association between education status of carpenters and their choice as far as going for medical check-ups is concerned [p = 0.389 > 0.05 (level of significance)]. Another finding was that, there was no statistical association between education status of carpenters and their decision to choose using personal protective equipment [p = 0.634 > 0.05 (level of significance)]. Another finding was that there was a significant relationship between protective equipment use status and work injuries experience status [p = 0.0 < 0.05 (level of significance)]. This implies that use of personal protective equipment has an effect on experiences of work injuries, that is to say, it reduces occurrences of injuries in carpentry workshops. The study concluded that if carpentry workers are routinely sensitized on going for frequent medical check-ups and putting on protective equipment, then the occurrences of work-related injuries, diseases/ailments that come up because of their occupation will reduce.