EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS IN THE STEEL INDUSTRY

Abstract

The inability to follow occupational health and safety standards typically results in accidents that place severe financial burdens on both employees as well as organisations. The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of employees in the steel industry towards occupational health and safety standards in the steel industry in South Africa. A survey was conducted in which a structured questionnaire was distributed to a purposive sample of 165 employees employed by a large steel processing company in Gauteng Province. The collected data were analysed using SPSS (Version 22.0). A combination of descriptive statistics and analysis of mean scores was applied to meet the aim of the study. The results reveal that employees in the steel industry perceived that occupational health and safety standards were satisfactory in all seven occupational health and safety dimensions considered in this study. These are (1) information and training, (2) health and safety awareness, (3) employee behaviour (4) role of the supervisor, (5) health and safety reporting mechanisms, (6) workplace inspection, and (7) workplace environment. Among these dimensions, safety awareness emerged as the most important dimension to employees. The results may be utilised by managers in the steel industry to identify and direct their attention to the key occupational health and safety factors in their different contexts

Keywords

• Steel industry, occupational health and safety (OHS), health and safety awareness, employee behaviour, workplace inspection, workplace environment

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