PREDICTORS OF COMPLIANCE TO USE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT IN LARGE LOGISTICS FIRM: A CASE OF SPEDAG INTERFREIGHT UGANDA LIMITED

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

According to Mashestwari (2014), the purpose of personal protective equipment is to reduce employee exposure to hazards when engineering controls and administrative controls are not feasible or effective to reduce these risks to acceptable levels. PPE is needed when there are hazards present. 

PPE does not eliminate the hazard at the source and non use may result in employees being exposed to accidents and illness if not well used. (Merchant, 2015) Any item of PPE imposes a barrier between the user and the hazardous working environment. Practices of occupational safety and health can use hazard controls and interventions to mitigate workplace hazards, which pose a threat to the safety and quality of life of workers. (Pandey, 2014) states that the hierarchy of hazard controls provides a policy framework which ranks the types of hazard controls in terms of absolute risk reduction. At the top of the hierarchy are elimination and substitution, which remove the hazard entirely or replace the hazard with a safer alternative.

According to Samuelson, (2016) Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer’s body from injury or infection. (Kakuru.2013) the hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, electrical, heat, chemicals, biohazards, and airborne particulate matter. Protective equipment may be worn for job-related occupational safety and health purposes, as well as for sports and other recreational activities. “Protective clothing” is applied to traditional categories of clothing, and “protective gear” applies to items such as pads, guards, shields, or masks, and others.

Many scholars have discussed various compelling factors leading to the use of personal protective equipment for example In a report of study carried out in Institute of Medicine (IOM) 2008, the contributing factors were categorized into three; Individual factors such as knowledge, attitude towards the use of PPE, perception of risk, and demographics, Environmental/economic factors such as availability, accessibility, Organizational factors such as management/administrative measures, guidelines and policies, expectations and feedbacks, trainings and education programs.

According to Pandey (2012), it is amazing how easy it is to put a pair of gloves on and yet workers have a difficult time doing so. Non-compliance to use of P.P.E is an area that requires little of effort to improve compliance. A pair of qualified boots is more than enough to reduce the chance of a foot related injury. It does not take much effort to wear the appropriate PPE when working, but still, only 64% workers globally on average, constantly use and wear the correct protection (OSHA, 2007), as a result approximately 65 million dollars (ISEA, 2015) are spent on related injuries in roadway institution in U.S. According to OHSA there should 100% compliance to use of personal protective equipment, and 0% work place injuries.

However in Africa there is still low compliance, according to Nghitanwa, E. M., & Zungu, L. I. (2017) a research carried out reported that in Namibia only 10% of industries were found to be compliant in use of PPE, most industries were reported to be non compliant to OHS legislation (Ministry of Labor and, industrial relations and employment creation of Namibia, 2016.

A research carried out in Tanzania among healthcare workers in Kahama district in Tanzania, Laisser, R. M., & Ng’home, J. F. (2017), revealed that 90% of the staff had experienced work place injuries which results from non compliance to use of PPE, 81% of the workers stated that there was no existence of guidelines and protocols in regards to how to perform their duties, 26% of the staff were not reporting cases hence not identifying the issues.

According to Ndejjo et al., 2015) Uganda is still reported to have a rate of non utilization of the all the necessary PPE hence increasing the risk of biological and non biological hazards in government and private owned hospitals.

Spedag Interefreight has a compliance rate of 75% which has to be increased to 100%.

Alli, 2008 defines occupational health and safety as the science of workplace hazard anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control that may impair the health and well being of workers, work places, surrounding communities and the environment.

Employers’ legal duty to provide suitable PPE for their employees comes in the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 2012. Suitable equipment must be provided in situations where workers may be vulnerable to harm, and where it is not possible to eliminate every potential hazard. It’s up to individual companies to write their own PPE policies and decide whether and what their employees must wear, based on their risk assessments and analysis of any previous accidents or injuries (William, 2013). 

In the early 1800s, shipbuilding workers would paint their hats in tar and cure them under the sun to solidify. When they hardened they would be strong enough to protect their heads from being struck by falling objects. Nowadays, hard hats are mandatory in all the organizations, industrial and mining sites. More importantly, in Canada, all hard hats being worn in these contexts must be certified by the Canadian Safety Association (CSA). This is to ensure that PPE meets the minimum safety standard to withstand trauma to the head. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of defense in preventing workplace injuries and ill health. If you can’t control the risks in other ways, you must provide PPE and workers must use it. People sometimes refuse to wear PPE because of religious beliefs or on health grounds but, mostly, refusals stem from poor management, communication and training. If workers don’t understand why they need to wear PPE or don’t have any say in choosing it, they are more likely to refuse to use it than if they are properly trained and involved (Pandey, 2014).

Observing the above data, it can be concluded that adequate, timely and appropriate use of PPE is essential as well can contribute extensively to improving the safety performance of the industry. Hence this is an aspect that requires further insight, especially as to why an appreciable proportion of institution workers do not wear PPE. This diagnosis will be significant, in particular, towards developing strategic recommendations for improved usage of PPE in the logistics firms (Saunders, 2014).

This study will therefore focus on the potential factors influencing the compliance to use of personal protective equipment at Spedag Interfreight limited Kampala Uganda.

SPEDAG Interfreight is a logistics company that considers health and safety of its employees as a core priority with the office in Basel, Switzerland; they are committed to comply with the highest international standards. Spedag Interfreight Uganda is certified by NEMKO for; ISO: 9001 (Quality), ISO: 14001 (Environment) and OHSAS: 18001 (Occupational health and safety). They ensure that their staffs are very healthy and equipped with knowledge regarding health.

Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited is a leading Provider of end to end supply chain Management with offices in Kampala Uganda and branches all over Uganda. The company specializes in supply chain management, consolidation Services, Distribution Logistics, Project Logistics, Warehousing, Airfreight, Transports, Sea freight Overland and comprehensive Logistics. 

Employers in Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited have duties concerning the provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. Many workers at Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited appreciate the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) while at work. Despite the dramatic improvements in safety that have taken place in Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited, the safety record in this company continues to be one of the poorest and the company is consistently ranked among the most dangerous occupations accounting for a disproportionately large percentage of all work-related illnesses, injuries and death.

Statement of the Problem

According to William, (2013).PPE in logistics firms is frequently described by workers as a hindrance, but this feeling can be overcome when it fits them well, is of good quality, is comfortable and does not prevent them from seeing clearly or moving freely. Such PPE used in logistics firms can make people more productive, as well as safer.

Non compliance to use of PPE refers to a situation in which workers/employees deliberately choose not to make use of the personal protective equipment at the appropriate time of use, for example wearing safety shoes where there could be a lot of nails that can prick legs, wearing gloves while handling dangerous chemicals. 

The United States government is aiming at improving the occupational safety; however the obstacle is the adopting automation systems in many industries. According to Matela, D. (2008) 89% of workers do not use personal protective equipment, 29% used the equipment on very few occasions.

Gina stated that non compliance is an exposure of staff to serious health and safety threats, as well as death. The Bureau of statistics (BLS) show that workers who sustained a variety of on-the-job injuries wear not using PPE.

Employers’ legal duty to provide suitable PPE for their employees comes in the Personal Protective Equipment at work regulations in Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited and suitable equipments are provided in situations where workers are vulnerable to harm and where it is not possible to eliminate every potential hazard. Employers in Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited have duties concerning the provision and use of personal protective equipment (PPE) at work. Many workers at Spedag Interfreight Uganda Limited appreciate the necessity of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) while at work. But for every willing employee, there’s also a stubborn one who would rather gamble with their safety. Non-compliance to wear PPE or neglecting safety gear can be catastrophic for the individual and even the whole company. 

Spedag Interfreight assessment report (2017). Despite all the administrative measures and emphasis made for staff to make good of the PPE, there is still poor response from most of the staff, accounting for a disproportionately large percentage of all work-related illnesses, injuries and death. This situation still puzzles the researcher hence prompting her to conduct research on   the factors associated with compliance to use of P.P.E in large logistics firms.

Research Questions

1. What are the individual/personal factors associated with use of PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
2. What are the organizational factors related to utilization of PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
3. What is the prevalence of utilization of the PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
4. What is the influence of the personal and organizational factors on the prevalence of PPE use in Spedag Interfreight.

Research Objective

General Objective of the study

The general objective of the study is to assess the potential factors associated with compliance to use of personal protective equipment which therefore develop measures of how to ensure 100% compliance and 0% workplace injuries.

Specific objectives of the study

1. To identify the individual/personal factors associated with use of PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
2. To assess the organizational factors related to utilization of PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
3. To determine the prevalence of utilization of the PPE at Spedag Interfreight.
4. To establish whether there is a significant influence of the personal and organizational factors on the prevalence of PPE use in Spedag Interfreight.

Hypothesis of the Study

There is no significant influence of the personal and organizational factors on the prevalence of PPE use in Spedag Interfreight.

Significance of the Study

This research and the findings may be of significant importance and beneficial to various stakeholders at different capacities as presented below;

To the international and national stakeholders of occupational health and safety; the research will add on the available data and report in reference to occupational hazards and their mitigation measures.

To the ministry of Labor and Ministry of health, the results will help to identify areas in which to put much emphasis in designing and funding programs on occupational health and safety.

To the logistics industry, the results will help the logistics firms to identify the area of concern regarding the factors influencing the use of PPE and how they can address the issues.

The findings from the study will empower all the logistics firms in Uganda to understand how Personal Protective Equipment can be used in order to eliminate every potential hazard at the work place.

To the researcher The study when completed will also help to acquire knowledge on how workers should be protected and also for other researchers to carry out future research.

Scope of the Study

The study will be carried out in Uganda, Kampala at Spedag Interfreight Kampala located in Nakawa division. It will basically focus on the predictors of compliance to use of P.P.E. The subject matter will be based on the individual and organizational factors. This will range between the periods of June to July 2018. The time of data for the company records will range from (2013-2017) and report will be submitted in September 2018.

Limitations to the Study

I intend to use the cross sectional study design which cannot establish the cause and effect relationship; it cannot determine the behavior over a period of time, it is also prone to recall bias as a respondent may not be able to recall exactly what happened at a certain time T. This study as well being a triangulated one, not a lot of concentration may be given to either of the qualitative and quantitative data to be collected. These will be managed by requesting the respondents to be give every truthful information they have.

Theoretical framework

The study is underpinned to Side-Bet theory which holds that practices of occupational safety and health can use hazard controls and interventions to mitigate workplace hazards, which pose a threat to the safety and quality of life of workers. The theory adds that employers’ legal duty to provide suitable PPE for their employees comes in the Personal Protective Equipment at work regulations in the company and suitable equipments are provided in situations where workers are vulnerable to harm and where it is not possible to eliminate every potential hazard.

Demographic transition theory has been used as a framework through which the drastic changes in family and family related behaviors, age, household size, and marital status can cause Non-compliance to use of P.P.E in logistics firms.

In logistics firms there is a collective set of rules or norms that tell people how they ought to conduct various aspects of their lives. Recent data reveals fundamental shifts in values, attitudes and norms which also can cause non-compliance to use of P.P.E in logistics firms.

The changing economic status of the employers reflected in rising labor force participation rates and earnings, is most likely to be responsible for causing non-compliance to use of P.P.E in logistics firms.

The theory of reason action also will guide the study, Ajzen and Fisbein formulated this theory in 1980 based on the fact that a person’s behavior is determined by their intention to perform the behavior in question of which the intention is determined by their attitude towards the behavior, the intention is looked at as the persons readiness to per