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ABSTRACT
Increasing problems of industrial accidents posed by changes in technological advancement in industries call for radical approach towards industrial safety measures. From manufacturing, engineering, mining and construction through to utilities, transport and warehousing, employees in an industrial environment seem to be exposed to a wide variety of work-related injuries, potential irritants, temperature swings, and at times, difficult working conditions. Consequently, recurrence of accidents and injuries are common in industry which cost the economy billions of dollars every year, and these costs are often underestimated by businesses. These include direct costs, such as fines, compensation payments, and costs for legal services, as well as indirect costs such as Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) insurance premiums, increased turnover, loss of productivity and loss of income. In reality, the amount of production required to cover costs associated with accidents in the workplace can be substantial and may far outweigh the expenses of providing a safe and health working environment. The broad objective of this study is to assess attitude of workers towards industrial safety practices of selected companies in Benin City. However, the specific objectives are to: examine attitudes of workers towards industrial safety in selected industries; assess the accident preventive measures in the target industries in Benin City; identify the socio-cultural factors influencing industrial safety in selected industries; and to find out the nature of industrial accident in the target industries in Benin City. The study was conducted based on the exploratory study design. The population of study comprised workers from selected industries in Benin Industrial Area and the companies include 7 Up bottle company Benin and Guinness Nigeria Benin City branch. The total population for the study was 2364. The total sampling size for the study was 800. The study found that the attitude of workers towards industrial safety practice the result shows that 64.2% of the participants agreed that they carry out their daily routing work under risk (without personal protective equipment). The study further revealed that 48.3% of the respondents believed management handling of health and safety issues of their workers is not flexible but very poor. Also the study showed that 47.4% of the participants said staff’s who violates safety rules are punished by their organization. It was also found that 87.9% of the respondents agree that prevention of industrial accident is a joint responsibility. It is the conclusion of the study that safety implantation and compliance has been so much neglected and suffered great set-back due to the willingness of the workers to meet their daily output and the goal of management in ensuring workers’ wages justified their output. Also, the high level of unemployment / hunger in the nation also contributed to workers willingly undertaken risky jobs as means of survival. The study therefore recommends that training and appointment of resident safety personnel/manager that will implement safety policy and form a monitoring control system that will keep reminding workers that they are absolutely responsible for their safety on site using public address system throughout the working hours.
