Determinants of Occupational Injuries among Workers in Accra Brewery Limited, Greater Accra Region, Ghana.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, occupational injuries have become an important public health issue leading to greater economic burden for a country. The Brewing Industry remains a very important industry that contributes greatly to the socioeconomic development of the country. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that about 2.3 million fatalities annually occur from involuntary occupational injuries and diseases. Even though several efforts have been put in place to minimize occupational injuries among industry workers including those of the brewery industries, not much has been done in Ghana. OBJECTIVES: The main purpose of this study was to assess the determinants of occupational injuries among workers of the Accra Brewery, Limited in Ghana METHOD: A descriptive cross-sectional design was employed in this study. A total of 158 participants were randomly selected from the staff of ABL to be part of the study. Departments were used as strata in execution of stratified sampling technique. Pretested semi-structured questionnaires and an observational checklist was used to obtain information from eligible participants and work environment. Data were edited and statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. Chi square test of independence and Logistic regression were used to test the relationship between the categorical variables and occupational injuries. RESULTS: The study outcome revealed that educational level (OR = 0.10, 95% CI: 0.03-0.29, p-value = 0.000), OSH training (OR= 0.23, 95% CI:0.09-0.57, p-value = 0.002), PPE compliance (OR= 5.96, 95% CI:1.17-20.75, p-value = 0.005) and cause of injury(OR= 0.49, 95% CI:0.34-0.69, p-value = 0.000) were significantly associated with occupational injuries. CONCLUSION Young age, job category, lack of experience, low educational level increased the risk of occupational injuries. Working for 40 hours or more, inadequate training, job dissatisfaction increased the occurrence of occupational injuries. Adequate occupational health and safety training, workload reduction, employee’s motivation and strict enforcement of PPEs usage should be implemented.