Occupational Health and Safety: Link-Pin to Organisational Effectiveness
in Nigeria
A paper delivered in the 9th Annual
Public Lecture organised by
Personnel Practitioners Consultative
Association Ilesa/Ile-Ife on
19th November 2015
By
Dr. B.F. Oluwagbemi PhD, MPH, FISPN, CMIOSH
Occupational Health and Safety Consultant
Introduction
The theme of
this conference “Horses and Horsemen” sounds like a riddle. ”Hence, why not tackle it? Some may propose,
following the analogies of classical capitalistic economists, that the horse is
the business (employer and employee) and the horsemen are the consumers and/or
the government (that derive value from products/services or taxes paid by the
business). But from my own professional judgement, the horsemen are employers
while the horses are the workers; others might have a different point of view.
Let us briefly go through the analogy below in order to understand the position
of the horsemen and the horses in occupational health and safety ecosystem
There is a bridge that links every horseman
and the horses. But there is a team who manages the bridge and whom I will refer
to in my lecture, as the “the bridge- owners.” Note that without their
cooperation there will not be “smooth passage through the bridge”. Also note that the horseman focuses mainly on
making profit and survival of his investment. He is hardly interested in the
general well-being of the horses that do most, if not all the work. But it is
unfortunate that the “bridge-owners” also have little or no consideration for
the health and safety of the horses that paid for the maintenance of the bridge
through regular deduction of a percentage of their monthly salaries. But contrarily, the “bridge-owners” in most
cases, ensure that the horseman has the passage of way once their demands are
meant. This often is without consideration for the health and safety of the horses.
The only relationship that brings the horses,
the horsemen and bridge owners full circle is when there is need to agitate for
the increase in the wages of the horses. Ignorantly, the horses will be at the
front following the instruction of the “bridge-owners” to agitate even if possible
violently for the increase. This should
not be a surprise because the “bridge-owners” will benefit tremendously from
the increase. This, according to rule, as mentioned earlier, a fixed percentage
of each horse wage is deducted every month to maintain the bridge and the “bridge-owners”.
So are the lot of the horses, and the tremendous benefits of the “bridge-owners”!
Who is the bridge? And who are bridge-owners?
The bridge is the trade union while the trade union leaders are the “bridge-owners.” The horses are the workers, that the trade union leaders
represent, while the horseman is the employer.
To support my narrative, listen to what a
prominent labour leader said over two decades ago of health and safety of
workers in Nigeria: “Yet I must admit that as a labour movement Nigerian Trade
Unions have not demonstrated sufficient awareness on the importance of health
and safety. This is why more than 80 per cent of our time is devoted to the
pursuit of better wages and other working conditions. Unfortunately, the
traditional conception of the phase “working condition” does not often include
physical environment”.
It is pathetic that that the situation remains the same till,
date judging from reported fatalities and destruction of industrial equipment
and property resulting from industrial accidents in Nigeria. At this juncture
let us look at available records on industrial accident statistics in Nigeria
before going on.
According to ILO (2011), “an estimated 337
million workplace accidents and 2.3 million deaths occur every year, making it
6,300 deaths per day, across the globe, including Nigeria.” But as observed by Nnedinma Umeokafor et.al
(2014) occupational accidents are under-reported in Nigeria. This is partly due
to low level of awareness among employers of the need to report industrial
accident and disease cases. Some, who are aware, fail to report because they
want to avoid compensating the victim. There is no doubt that there is a
general ineffective and dysfunctional occupational health and safety regulatory
and enforcement systems in Nigeria.
Having said that let us look at death and injury pattern for a period of
eleven years as obtained from Federal Ministry of Labour, Inspectorate
Division.
Death
and injury pattern, and causes of accident (2002 - 2012)
|
Causes of deaths and accidents
|
No. Of injuries
|
% of injuries
|
No. of death
|
% of death
|
Case fatality rate
|
|
Fire
|
52
|
55.9
|
2.9
|
63
|
59.6
|
|
Inhalation
of poisonous gases
|
1
|
1.1
|
1
|
2.2
|
100
|
|
Fall of
heavy object during lifting
|
10
|
10.8
|
6
|
13
|
60
|
|
Machinery
Driven Power
|
13
|
14
|
1
|
2.2
|
7.7
|
|
Hot
thermal fluid
|
1
|
1.1
|
1
|
2.2
|
100
|
|
Trapped by
a moving parts of machines
|
2
|
22
|
2
|
4.3
|
100
|
|
Explosion
|
5
|
5.4
|
4
|
8.7
|
80
|
|
Electrocution
|
1
|
1.1
|
1
|
2.2
|
100
|
|
Malfunction
of machines
|
2
|
2.2
|
1
|
2.2
|
50
|
|
Total
|
93
|
100
|
46
|
100
|
49.5
|
Table
structure, partly adopted from Ezenwa (2001) and modified by Nnedinma Umeokafor
et. al (2014) : being content from
accident reports collected from Inspectorate Division, Federal Ministry of
Labour and Productivity (2002-2012).
The above table shows the report of
industrial accidents collected from Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity,
Inspectorate Division for a period of 11 years: 2002-2012. The table indicates “that the highest number
of deaths occurred as a result of fire outbreaks, which led to 52 injuries
(55.9%) and 29 deaths (63%) with case fatality rate of 59.6%. Next are deaths
as a result of the fall of heavy objects during lifting, which caused 6 deaths
(13%), 10 injuries (10.8%) with a case fatality rate of 60%. Another major
cause of death during the years of study was explosions, which led to 4 deaths
(8.7%), 5 injuries (5.4%) and case fatality rate of 80%. Trapping of workers by
moving parts of machines led to 2 deaths (4.3%), 2 injuries (2.2%) while
inhaling of poisonous gases, machinery driven by power, hot thermal fluids,
electrocution and malfunction of a machine all led to 1 death each (2.2%). The
table also indicates that, “the three highest causes of injuries were fire
outbreaks, machinery driven by power and fall of heavy objects during lifting
while the three highest causes of death were fire outbreaks, fall of heavy
objects during lifting and explosions.’’
Investigation has equally revealed that not
less than 200 cases of industrial accidents occurred daily in workplaces in
Nigeria with an equally high rate of fatalities. It was also discovered that no fewer than 400
workers have lost their lives in the power sector in the last two years while
performing their official duties.
Reacting to the rising case of accidents in
some companies, the General Secretary of the National Union of Chemical,
Footwear, Rubber, Leather and Non-Metallic Products Employees (NUCFRLANMPE)
said, “the companies valued production more than the lives of the producers”
(2009). To confirm this statement, let
us look at the working condition in some
Nigeria factories through the eyes of Ikenna Emewu, as captured in Saturday Sun of June 18 2005 with the heading
“Horror of Asian Factories”. He observed
that in a nail industry that he visited, somebody can bump into the next man
without seeing him. Since everybody is covered in black dust, and giving the
impression that somebody is inside a coal mine with some workers feeding thin
strips of rod into the machines and by some crude and complicated mechanism,
the machines are spitting nails, which in an event of mishap can fly in any
possible direction.
The journalist also captured his experience
when he worked in a factory producing roofing sheets. Here he goes … “the most dominant features
here are the huge blast furnaces that produce enormous heat, the different
casting moulds buried in the floor, the foundry and the gas supply system.”
Pitiable as all the workers here appeared; those tending the blast furnaces
consider themselves privileged because of the N200 heat allowance paid to them
at the end of every month”.
He concluded by saying that, “Nigerian
workers in their thousands are faced with humiliating employment regulations
that tolerate no pregnancy, no medical services, no annual leave and no
pension.” There are flagrant violations of labour laws, negligence and apparent
lack of concern for workers general safety. Rather than put in place adequate
health and safety measures, the factory owners prefer to pay “heat and (hazardous)
chemical allowances. What more evidence do you need to realise that the horses
suffer!
This brought me to the story of a casual
worker as reported by Kate Uzoh on August 19 2010 in the Sun Newspaper. This
casual worker whose picture you can see on the screen lost two fingers while
working in an Asian company located at Matori , Lagos. Besides, he suffered
severe burns to his body while he later suffered from paralysis of the injured
hand. He was not compensated for the loss but asked never to show up in the
premises of the company. A similar case was reported in The Sunday Punch of
October 17, 2010 where a young school leaver (see the picture also on the
screen) trying to earn a living before entering a higher institution lost four
fingers while working in a factory in Otta. Her employer dismissed her after
paying her one million naira, and forced her to sign an undertaking that he
would not lay claim to any medical bill.
Also, a young man was electrocuted in June
2011, while working with a Civil Construction company based in Uyo, the Capital
of Akwa-Ibom. The accident happened when the forklift that the victim was using
to place slabs on a gutter hit a high tension cable. The forklift was burnt
while the victim was burnt beyond recognition. A co-worker interviewed on site
stated that the firm had the habit of covering up accident that resulted in
fatalities most especially when it happened at work.
Another case that could not be forgotten in a
hurry was the fire incident that razed a plastic factory in Ikorodu, Lagos in
2002. As highlighted by Wogu (2002) in
his paper “Safety at Work: Nigerian workers, the endangered species,
“many
workers were roasted to death at night because the Chinese owners of the
company locked the workers in the factory and went to sleep at their highly
secured residence guarded by policemen.”
There is no doubt that the prevailing working
conditions in most Nigeria workplaces are similar to what workers experienced
during the Industrial Revolution in Europe (1760-1830), as described by Pierre
Hamp (1920)[1]
who wrote, “We live on the suffering of
others. Everyone makes life a torment for some of his fellow men. How many
people earn their living pleasantly? Many do so in unpleasant conditions. To
love one’s occupation is to be happy, but where are the occupations which one
can love”.
From here let us look at the predicament of
factory workers working in Asian factory as captured by a journalist not long
ago (9th February 2014), He wrote, “”It was clear
he was afraid. He was afraid like many other factory workers, who simply walked
away when our correspondent approached them to inquire about working conditions
in their places of work. They did not want to get fired. The condition in the country has taught these
youths to be thankful for their situation and count them fortunate to be
employed, no matter how terrible the working condition in their places of work
is. Some of them told our correspondent that they
were aware that their case was ‘voluntary slavery;’ but said they had become
powerless as a result of the economic hardship in the country.”
As observed by Mr Victor Ahiuma-Young, the
Chairman of Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LWANA) “ there is increase in incidence of
industrial accidents at the workplace in Nigeria and fatality rate as well as the
inherent dangers posed to the socio-economic and political development of the
country. According to him the
contributions to this unfortunate trend are the lack of enforcement of industrial safety laws at the
workplace, the trade unions (the bridge owners)
paying less attention to the safety of their members, and the greed of employers ( the horses) who has relegated to the background health and safety of their workers.”
But it is most unfortunate that all these
accidents occurred under the administration and supervision of some members of
this noble profession. However, it pleases me, to be invited here to address
this important issue often ignore by the government, employers and even workers
themselves. But I hope that there will be a change of attitude towards health
and safety of workers by government, employers and trade union leaders considering
your vision; for you have started
nursing the “change” through this public lecture. After all “change” is in the
air in our country at the moment!
That now brings us to the main topic of this
conference that is, “Occupational Health and Safety: Link-Pin to Organisational
Effectiveness in Nigeria.”
Reasons for
Health and Safety Programs or Policies in the Workplace
There is no doubt that workers are the key to
the productive outputs and thereby play
a strategic role and position in any organization. And they are
responsible for converting inputs to productive outputs (Ugwu and Coker, 2010).
But the general wellbeing of the workers and productivity are two sides of the
same coin and that ill health and unsafe working conditions will jeopardise the
whole cycle of production. Thus, in order to ensure effective action, it is therefore essential
that Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS), (a “vessel” for all safety programs and policies) should be
adopted in all workplaces for continual improvement of the working conditions
and general welfare of workers. In the Nigerian context, the need to
reinforce occupational health and safety management (OHSMS) issues arises as a
result increase in the incidence of occupational injuries and diseases as
discussed earlier. Generally they are several reasons why workplaces
need OHSMS. These include:
- Opportunity for management to demonstrate
their full commitment to their employee's health and safety.
- Displaying of openness, responsibility and accountability by
employer on workplace health and safety issues.
- Highlighting that safety
performance and business performance are compatible in the organisation
- Opportunity to demonstrate the organisation’s safety beliefs,
principles, objectives, strategies and processes to build buy-in through
all levels of the organisation.
- Compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety laws and
regulations.
- Development and availability of safe work practices and procedures
followed by prevention of workplace injuries and illnesses.
What is OHSM?
Bottomley
(1999) sees OHSMS as a “deliberate
linking and sequencing of processes to achieve specific objectives and to create a repeatable and
identifiable way of managing occupational health and safety.
Warwick
Pearse (2000) on the other hand defines OHSMS as a ‘distinct element which covers the key range of activities required to
manage occupational health and safety. These are inter-linked, and the whole
thing is driven by feedback loops’.
Gallagher
(2000), defines OHSMS as “a
combination of the planning and review, the management organisational arrangements, the consultative arrangements,
and the specific program elements that work together in an integrated way to improve health and safety
performance.”
Elements of
OHSMS by International Labour Organisation
There are 15 elements of OHSMS development
for an organization, which are self-explanatory and they are as follow:
1.
Policy: Occupational health and safety policy
2.
Worker participation
3.
Organizing
4.
Competence and training
5.
Occupational Health and Safety Management System
Documentation
6.
Communication
7.
Planning and implementation
8.
System planning, Development and Implementation
9.
Occupational Health and Safety objectives.
10.
Prevention and control measures
11.
Performance monitoring and measurement
12.
Audit Arrangements to conduct periodic audits
13.
Management review
14.
Preventive and corrective action
15.
Continual improvement
Benefits of OHSM
The system is
characterised by the “principles of ‘continuous improvement’ or ‘quality
management’ which have been used extensively by enterprises seeking improved
business competitiveness” often refer to as “Plan-Do-Check-Act.” The system
makes management and workers to be responsible for occupational health and
safety protection and promotion in their organisation. The main purpose of which is to promote workers
wellbeing and at the same time improve their working conditions. The resultant
effects of promoting workers health are low sickness absence and low accident
rate. This will without any doubt will enhance high morale among workers. There
will be peaceful industrial environment, efficiency and increase productivity.
Some barriers to OHSMS
Some barriers to OHSMS have been identified
by researchers. These include failure to meet necessary conditions for OHSMS
success by not tailoring the system to organisational needs, imposition without
consultation, weak senior management commitment and poor employee involvement. Others include the inappropriate use of audit
tools conducted without sound auditor skills and governed by misplaced
management objectives.
Conclusion
Though there is
a use of voluntary OHSMS in multinational companies in Nigeria that stems from
the parental bodies located in Europe and America. From my personal experience
in one of these companies, the system works.
At this juncture, I will suggest
that there should be a general thinking through government policy towards the
use of a uniform OHSMS that is in alignment with our occupational ecosystem
focusing on direct involvement of employers, employees, unions and the general
public on occupational health and safety issues. Workers in particular, will
at this level be educated and free to voice and defend their rights and will be
able to request for genuine improvements of their working conditions rather
than requesting for hazard allowances as it is often the case. However, OHSMS should not be seeing by
employers as a system that inhibits employees’ inputs but be seeing as system that promote the
welfare of workers for higher productivity.
A worker at the scene of one of the accidents
discussed earlier offered the following words of advice to the government when
he said, “It is time the government of this country respect the right of every
citizen; our right to life, right to healthy living; right to work and right to
associate. It is only when the government has done these things that it would
be able to keep account of those who are living and those who have died and
what caused their death.” Updating and
enforcement of existing health and safety laws in Nigeria will contribute to this
vision. The involvement of all the stakeholders most especially the trade unions
is very crucial to this development. The
trade unions must rise up to this challenge through enlightenment of their
members, “to appreciate their rights and duties under the existing health
safety protection laws”. Every effort
should be directed towards improving working conditions in every organisation
in Nigeria with the main aim of upholding
human life and dignity.
Employers should see OHS as an important part
of human and financial resources management as well as organizational
development—in terms of training as well as skill development. Promoting health
and safety of workers therefore becomes one of the most challenging aspects of
human resources functions.
For organisation effectiveness, the principal
challenge will be the development of competencies of future managers and to
make them aware of their responsibilities regarding preventive and corrective
measures to ensure occupational health and safety of workers in their
organisations. Thus as human resources professionals, you without any doubt will
play an important role in achieving this objective. This is because you know
the workplaces, the employees and the demands of their jobs. Even though, you
are not expected to know the technical aspects of workplace health and safety,
but should know when and how to use existing resources to respond to employees
concerns with the view of promoting organisational effectiveness. In other
words, you should be in the forefront in development and implementation of the
OHS policies with the aim of ensuring that everyone is aware of his or her
responsibilities in the organisation. You should also advocates promotion of opportunities “for women and men to obtain decent and
productive working conditions characterised by freedom, equity, security and
human dignity”. Decent work is a work
carried out in a healthy and safe work environment. This is a positive
factor for organisational effectiveness, productivity and economic growth.
Reference
Canadian
Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (2015) Health and Safety Guide
for
Human Resources Professionals.
Gallagher, C.
(2000). Occupational Health & Safety
Management Systems:
System Types and Effectiveness, Unpublished
Ph.D., Deakin
University,
Melbourne
International
Labour Organisation (2001), Guidelines on Occupational
safety
and health management systems, ILO-OSH.
Nnedinma
Umeokafor, Kostis Evaggelinos, Shaun Lundy, David Isaac and Stuart Allan
(2014), ThePattern of Occupational
Accidents, Injuries, Accident Causal Factors
ISSN 2224-607X (Paper)ISSN 2225-0565
(Online) Vol.4, No.15.
Oluwagbemi
B. F (2011). Themes & Issues in Occupational Health & Safety.
Vertext Media Limited, Ibadan,
pp.17, 176
Oluwagbemi
B.F.,(2015) Towards Building Occupational Safety and Health Culture in
Nigeria, a paper presented in the
Symposium organized by National Industrial
Safety Council of Nigeria ( Oyo State Branch) to
celebrate the 2015 World
Safety Day.
Oluwagbemi,
B. F (2010): Basic Occupational Health Second Edition,
Vertext Media Limited, Ibadan, pp. 160-166.
Pearse,
W. (2000) Club Zero: Implementing OHS Management Systems in Small to Medium Fabricated
Metal Product Companies, Paper presented at the First National Conference on
Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, UWS, Sydney.
Ugwu Ude
& Coker M. A., (2012) , Employee Motivation and Productivity in
Organizations
in Nigeria: Analytical Linkages in IOSR Journal
of Business
and Management (IOSRJBM) ISSN: 2278-487X
Volume 1,
Issue 4, pp. 32-39
Wogu, (2012) Safety at work Nigerian Workers, the
Endangered Species
http://atlantablackstar.com/2014/02/09/nigerians-working-chinese-indian-factories-job-slavery
