Abstract
Contemporary employees spend most of their working lives in the workplace. Work provides economic, social and psychological experiences that promote the mental wellbeing of individuals. The work environment should be devoid of hazards as much as possible to provide healthy and decent work for the workforce. However, numerous injuries, illnesses, property damages, and process losses take place at different workplaces. It is unclear how effectively OSH programs are being implemented in Kenya’s water sector since no study has been done. The general objective of the study was to establish an influence of management commitment on Occupational Health and Safety policies implementation in Water and Sanitation Companies in Kenya, a study of water and Sanitation Companies in Nyeri County. The study was based on the theoretical foundation that comprises two theories Leader-Member Exchange theory and Bourgeois and Brodwins Five Models of Strategy Implementation. The target population consisted of 474 employees in all water & sanitation companies in Nyeri County. From this population, a sample of 243 respondents was drawn using a random sampling technique but only 188 respondents filled and returned valid questionnaires giving the study an 80% response rate. The study employed both descriptive and inferential statistics to present and analyze the data. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools namely frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation while inferential statistical tools such as multiple regression were used to determine the relationship between variables. The study findings revealed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between management commitment and implementation, the 27.9% unit change in the implementation of OSH policies was explained by the management commitment. The study recommends that the water companies’ management should be committed to the implementation of OSH.
Highlights
Organizations worldwide strive to be competitive arising from forces such as globalization, technology and competitive workforce
Findings by Rotich (2015) who did a study on the assessment of success factors in the implementation of occupational health and safety programs in the tea sector in Kenya, identified that for successful implementation of health and safety programs, employees should be adequately trained on health and safety, in order to be equipped with knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes necessary for effective and efficient performance, attaining both individual and organizational goals
Findings of a study by Seoke et al ( 2014) to investigate occupational health and safety management systems- a review of practices in enterprises in Botswana, investigated these variables, existence of OHS committee, environment or exposure monitoring, existing OHS data base, OHS policy statement, found out that 72.2% of the respondents agreed that having an existing health and safety policy in the organization, showed a clear impression to the employees on what to do in the case injuries or eventualities, and this has helped employees to feel safe and committed to an organization where they feel a sense of belonging as a result of a health and safety policy mechanism in place
Summary
Organizations worldwide strive to be competitive arising from forces such as globalization, technology and competitive workforce. Occupational safety and health deals with prevention of work-related injuries and diseases, and the protection and promotion of healthy workers. It aims at the improvement of working conditions and environment. Occupational Safety and Health has recently gained position of higher priority in light of growing evidence of great loss and suffering caused by occupational diseases and ill-health across different employment sectors. It has attracted concerns from managers due to increasing number of deaths and accidents occurring at work. Work is an important contributing factor to the wellbeing of workers and to that of their families and society
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