Employees’ Role in Health and Safety Committees:

Weakest Link Towards Safety Compliances on Construction Sites in Kenya

Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 2007 which was enacted to provide for the safety, health, and welfare of all persons lawfully present at workplaces, makes provisions for the occupier to establish health and safety committees (HSCs) whose membership is drawn from the occupier’s top management representative and the employees engaged in the workplaces. However, while anecdotal evidence suggests that there has been poor performance of the HSCs coupled with inadequate involvement of employees in the HSCs’ operations, no previous studies have been able to establish such assertions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish the level of performance of the HSCs and the employees’ involvement towards OSHA compliance on construction sites in Kenya. The target population comprised of 250 registered projects being undertaken by NCA5-NCA8 contractors. A sample size of 153 sites was established using the stratified and simple random sampling method. Data was collected via self-administered questionnaires and a response rate of 82% was achieved. The study established the level of performance of HSCs to be at 42% and participation of employees in the HSCs to be 54.2%. The data showed a strong and positive correlation of 0.708 (p=0.01) between the level of performance of HSCs and the level of employees’ involvement. The study concluded that the level of performance of HSCs in construction sites in Kenya was inadequate. The level of employee involvement in HSCs was also insufficient. The study recommends increased involvement of employees in HSCs. This could be achieved through capacity building initiatives for employees to enhance their abilities to adequately take up their roles in the HSCs.