Abstract
Many previous studies have reported that the occupational health and safety (OHS) enforcement is poor in developing countries, however these studies have mainly focused on the broader enforcement problems and not fully considered the challenges confronting the institutions responsible for enforcing OHS standards at workplaces. In this study, twelve potential challenges were identified from an extensive literature review, then an empirical investigation was carried out via a questionnaire survey from OHS inspectors and professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry. The twelve challenges were confirmed and ranked. Also, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation were used to determine the statistical significance of the responses and the relationships between the challenges. Based on these findings, this study provides practical strategies for government, OHS inspectors and other professionals within the construction industry to improve the OHS enforcement. The research findings can also be adopted as a basis to assess challenges confronting OHS institutions in other developing countries.
Highlights
Realising its poor health and safety performance, Ghana has enacted and ratified various statutes and regulations that are aimed at safeguarding the health and safety (H&S) of workers
To be assured that the sampled participants can inform important facets and perspectives relating to occupational health and safety (OHS) enforcement challenges in Ghana, the sampling frame involved a population of OHS inspectors and construction industry professionals in Ghana who are involved in the management of H&S on projects
This study has considered and provided a broad perspective of the challenges hindering the effective enforcement of OHS legislation in Ghana
Summary
Realising its poor health and safety performance, Ghana has enacted and ratified various statutes and regulations that are aimed at safeguarding the health and safety (H&S) of workers. Regulation which is not enforced rarely achieves its objectives and sadly this is the reality with OHS regulations in Ghana. Eyiah, Kheni and Quartey (2019) assessed OHS regulations in the Ghanaian construction industry and found that laxity in the enforcement of OHS regulations is a key factor causing poor H&S performance of the industry. Even though enforcement of OHS regulations are not the only solution to improving OHS, it is a crucial factor to achieving better OHS at workplaces. Many research findings have concluded that there is a correlation between enforcement carried out by relevant public institutions and compliance of organisations with OHS regulations (Ko, Mendeloff and Gray, 2010)
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