Safety Climate Perception and its contribution for the Prediction of Actual Work Place Injuries among Workers of Kombolcha Textile Factory
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Date
2014-05
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Textile industry is characterized by a high existence of many potential hazards that can easily
inflict occupational injuries among workers. Recent years have witnessed the link between the
concepts of safety climate with variety of safety outcomes including accidents and injuries .Yet,
safety climate measures are rarely addressed in Ethiopia. Therefore, the objective of this study
was to explore the role of employees’ safety climate perception with regard to predicting
occurrence occupational injuries. Moreover, the study also examines the difference in safety
climate perception based on demographic factors to aid a greater understanding of the many
dynamics in predicting injuries among respondents. A cross sectional study design was
conducted on 255 employees’ from the three production deportments (spinning, weaving and
finishing) of kombolcha textile factory. A pre tested safety climate scale which was originally
developed by Cox and Cheyne (2000) was employed in order to assess the prevalent safety
climate in the factory. This tool has 43 items within nine dimensions. The prevalence rate of
injuries in the factory was 294 per 1000 exposed workers per year. Fingers and hands were the
most affected body parts. Workers gender, age and length of service duration also appeared as
significant predictors of occupational injuries. Findings from this study show, when all the nine
dimensions of the safety climate tool were considered as independent variable and injuries as
dependent variable, safety climate perception of employees were significant in predicting
occupational injuries. The study also showed certain safety climate dimensions were more
salient in predicting injuries. Finally the study implies, by using safety climate surveys as a
proactive indicator of safety, organizations can modify their safety condition trough intervening
to certain aspects of safety climate dimensions that are linked with injuries.
Key words: Employees, demographic factors, Safety Climate Perception, dimension of safety
climate, injury,
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Keywords
Employees, Demographic factors, Safety Climate Perception, Dimension of safety climate, Injury