Relevance of Studying Accidents and Safety Issues in Organizational Psychology

Assignment

Discuss the relevance of studying accidents and safety issues in industrial and organizational psychology, relating your response to practical Ghanaian work environment.

AGBOYIBOR COFFIE DANIEL (10320193)

Level 600 (I/O Psychology)

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON

September 2015

The concept of safety is a very important issue worldwide because of its vital role to growth and productivity and because it’s alternative; absence of safety, is often synonymous with accidents. It is even more vital in the workplace because of the multiple dynamics that exist in the interaction between workers and machines at the workplace. Indeed, people spend a significant portion of their lives at work with their jobs often bringing meaning and structure to their lives (Jahoda, 1982) than in any other place. It is therefore important to study health and safety, especially for we in Ghana and to larger extent in Africa. It is well documented that “Most African countries are noted for poor occupational health and safety practices.” (Puplampu, 2012) Several occupational health and safety risks, accidents, and hazards proliferate in most African countries. (Amweelo, 2000) Occupational health and safety remain neglected in developing countries in Africa (Nuwayhid, 2004) despite the benefits it carry. By conservative estimates workers suffer 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million occupational diseases each year (ILO, 2005).

Safety involves the protection of people from physical injury (Hughes et al, 2008). A joint definition of occupational health endorsed by the ILO and WHO (as revised in 1995) states that: “Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the workers in an occupational environment adapted to their physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize : the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job”

As a broad based concept, occupational health and safety, which covers accident and safety issues covers the mental, emotional and physical well-being of the worker in relation to the conduct of his work. This therefore makes health and safety an important contributing discipline to any organisation’s success. Any organization that makes the study of accidents and safety issues a priority is bound to reap countless positives because of the relevance of its study.

To start with, the study of accidents, health and safety helps workers and their employers avoid injuries and ill health which can take them out of work. This is bound to lower employee absence and turnover rates as well as minimise accidents. A study by Avotri and Walters (1999) showed that sanitation problems which are aggravated by the lack of accessible running water, as well as inadequate toilet facilities have the highest tendency of causing malaria and diarrhoea, musculo-skeletal pain, dehydration, and headaches. In Ghana, a lot of businesses are set up right in front of filthy gutters, rubbish bins and public toilets. Some of these businesses lack the awareness as well as the needed equipment for the work they do. This problem was further espoused by Ackerson and Awuah (2010) when they reported that, farmers are also exposed to occupational and water-related health risks, hazards and diseases including schistosomiasis, cholera, nematode infections, malaria, headaches, visual, dermatological, cardiac, and other respiratory problems. These diseases can lead to ill health, absence from work and loss of manpower and money. With knowledge in accidents, health and safety issues, informed decisions will be made by both employer and employees to prevent alleviate most of these problems.