Safety Practice and Employee Productivity in Selected Mining Firms in Ebonyi State, Nigeria.

Abstract

There is growing uncertainty about the application of safety practices for the desired employee productivity. This uncertainty arises from a disagreement from two schools of thought as to whether or not safety practices have a direct impact on the productivity of mining firms. This disagreement has resulted to ineffective application of safety practices in securing a healthy working environment necessary for operational excellence. Therefore, this study, sought to establish the correct link between safety practices and employee productivity of selected mining firms in Ebonyi State. The specific objectives of the study are: to determine the extent to which safety culture relates to production output of employees and to ascertain the extent to which safety procedures relate to work input of employees of the selected mining firms in Ebonyi State The study employed a correlational design such that structured questionnaire designed in 5-point likert scale was administered on the sample of two hundred and eighty four (284) drawn from the three senatorial districts of Ebonyi State, out of which, 270 copies were returned, and subsequently used for the analysis. The data collected from respondents were analyzed with Pearson Product Correlation Coefficient via SPSS version .20. The study employed component factor analysis using varimax rotation to ensure the usability and suitability of the research instrument. Also, for sampling adequacy Bartlett Test of Sphericity and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin were employed. Test retest approach was employed such that Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability of the research instrument. The study revealed that there is a significant and positive relationship between safety culture and production output of employees (r = 0.83) and a significant and positive relationship between safety procedures and work input of employees. From the findings, the study concludes that there is a significant relationship between safety practices and employee productivity. The implication of the result is that effective utilization of safety practices will provide convivial and healthy working environment necessary for improved production output and therefore recommended that management of these firms should take effective measure in ensuring full comply with safety practices of their organizations through hierarchy of control-system-mechanism.