EFFECT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY SERVICE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE, A STUDY OF NIGERIAN BOTTLING COMPANY ENUGU

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTON

1.1 The Background Of The Study

Any organization's health and safety is a critical component that requires careful consideration. "Occupational health practice received a boost following WWII, when most European nations went on an industrialization push and were faced with the evils of industry in the process" (Chalak, 2012). Various disciplines inherent in occupational medicine, nursing, hygiene, and safety have developed to varying degrees in various nations since then. Other disciplines with strong links to occupational health and safety, such as occupational health and ergonomics, psychology, toxicology, and, more recently, industrial relations, have evolved alongside occupational health and safety and are now accepted as disciplines closely related to occupational health and safety. Every company's main goal is to maximize profit at the lowest possible cost, and one method to do so is to boost productivity. In order to achieve organizational productivity and development, every organization must appropriately use the factors of production. Among the different manufacturing elements, labor has been identified as the most distinctive. This is because it has a consciousness, which allows it to think, resist, and so take actions that are beneficial to the organization, and as a result, the organization has a significant role to play in ensuring that the labor force is adequately provided for. Accidents are unavoidable in every business. Some of them are deadly, while others might leave you unable for a long time. The financial impact of these mishaps is significant for the company. As a consequence, when a company invests time and effort into investigating health dangers and accidents in its workplace, it may increase employee job satisfaction, and a happy employee is a productive employee.

The value of employee health is downplayed in many sectors. Employee safety and health is sometimes delegated as an extra task to cover burdened experts specializing in other disciplines rather than establishing full-time positions for employee safety and health specialists (Chalak,2012). Workers and labor unions, on the other hand, often underestimate the degree to which bad employee safety and health conditions might result, and hence devote their energy to fighting for pay while putting much less effort into work and improving their profession. Similarly, companies contribute relatively little to employee health and safety services and research(Eyiah,2019). It would be necessary to differentiate between the two parties in order to have a better understanding of employee health and safety: Safety is primarily concerned with the avoidance of illnesses or accidents, with the goal of ensuring that no accidents or diseases occur as a result of the employers' or workers' ignorance or incapacity to prevent such occurrences. Employee health, on the other hand, guarantees that the spread of any illnesses is controlled and effectively dealt with "this is what encourages companies in implementing safety and health programs for their workers via medical scheme operations." "The cost of not paying attention to staff health is harmful; accidents, illnesses, missed work time, mortality, and so on have multiplier effects on the fortunes of the business" (Howell,1999). Workers, in particular, bear the brunt of the gross as their output declines. The goal of this study is to go into the depths of employee health and safety and establish how it affects worker performance. The emphasis of this research is on the "impact of health and safety services on employee performance." Performance is simply defined as the link between the output created by a production or service system and the input used to produce that result. Working days are lost as a result of industrial accidents and sickness, which may contribute to a drop in productivity. Employee health and safety is therefore a significant problem that, if researched properly and extensively, might be of considerable advantage to both the firm and the country as a whole. As a consequence, improving health and safety services might give the highest results in terms of productivity and overall country development.

1.2 Statement Of Problem

"HEALTH IS WEALTH" is a common saying that is tough to contradict. In light of this axiom, it is assumed that improving worker health would automatically lead to increased worker performance(Farh,2012).

The goal of this study is to learn how health and safety services work, how important they are, and how they are implemented in organizations using the Nigeria bottling industry as an example. The real issue is the disparity between professed significance and actual practice of health and safety. The issue of insufficient health and safety precautions for employees in the workplace has long been a concern in the sector. Both developed and developing nations have made efforts to address this issue, routinely enacting acts and legislation to protect workers from physical, mental, and psychological health dangers in the workplace(Gitahi,2014).

Because wealthy nations are aware of the costs, they have devised a variety of solutions to the issue; nevertheless, emerging countries are still grappling with it. This topic of employee health and safety is a concern because health and safety hazards are actual and prospective dangers that may result in an accident or poor health at work, and can impact workers, their families, organizations, and the country directly or indirectly. This might be disguised as noise, dust, or chemical poisoning, or it could be generated by a natural occurrence such as the weather. All of these dangers, in whatever shape they take, have major consequences for employees' health and safety, and their presence might be detrimental to the community and the country as a whole. As a result, solving one problem will almost certainly lead to the resolution of a slew of other issues. This may be accomplished by a united effort by employers, governments, and employees, whose combined efforts can significantly enhance the health and safety of our workplaces.

1.3 Objective Of The Study

The general objective of the study is the effect of health and safety service on employee performance, a study of Nigerian bottling company Enugu. 

Therefore,the  specific objectives  is as follows :

1)      To examine the relative effects of occupational health and safety on employee's performance.

2)      To examine and identify some contemporary health and safety hazard in the workplace that may affect employee performance.

3)      To evaluate the challenges facing organization in the application of  health and safety to employee.

4)                To offer suggestions on how occupational health and safety could be used to enhance employee's productivity

1.4 Research Questions

The following questions have been prepared for the study:

1.       What are the relative effects of occupational health and safety on employee's performance?

2.       What are some of the contemporary health and safety hazard in the workplace that may affect employee performance?

3.       What are the challenges facing organization in the application of  health and safety to employee.

4.       What are the possible suggestions on how occupational health and safety could be used to enhance employee's productivity?

1.5     Significance Of The Study

The research would be great significance to Nigeria bottling company as an organization and the nation at large, in order to improve their employee’s health and safety standards and as such reduce their cost. Also recommendation would be made on ways in which the employers, government, trade union could jointly make effort to promote health and safety in Nigerian bottling  company thereby acting as a catalyst to influence other industries and generally improving the whole nation if this research is successfully carried out.

The study would further assist in showing how the various acts enacted are useful and should be implemented. If the study is accepted and appreciated, it could be significance to the nation as well.

The study will be significant  to the academic community as it will contribute to the existing literature.

1.6 Scope Of The Study

This study will examine the relative effects of occupational health and safety on employee's performance. The study will also identify some contemporary health and safety hazard in the workplace that may affect employee performance. The study will further evaluate if health and safety service have an effect on employee performance.  Lastly, the study will offer suggestions on how occupational health and safety could be used to enhance employee's productivity. Hence the study will be delimited to the Nigerian bottling company.

1.7 Definition Of Terms

Employee: Anyone who works for wages or salaries in the service of an employer.

Health: A state of being hale, sound or whole in body, mind and soul, that is from physical diseases or pain.

performance: Is the ratio or proportion of output of the commodity to the factors of production. According to “Mayadeo and Karmarker” may be defined “as the ratio between the production of a given measured by volume and one and more corresponding input factors also measured by volume”

Safety: This is the condition of being safe; it improves freedom from danger and hazards or keeping of oneself or other safe especially from danger of accident or diseases.

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