AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY PRACTICES AT THE TARKWA GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL

ABSTRACT The study sought to assess occupational health and safety practices at the Tarkwa Government Hospital. Case study research design was adopted for the study. Through the use of stratified and simple random sampling procedures, 144 hospital employees were selected to participate in the study. The mixed method was used to gather the requisite data for the study. The data were analysed through the computation of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, and mean of distributions. The study among other things found out that, one remarkable general safety and health precaution that has been put in place by the hospital authorities and which cuts across all departments is the policy that every employee of the hospital is to report to the authorities if he or she suspects his/her health has been compromised in any way in the discharge of his/her duties for immediate action to be taken. Again, both employers and employees have respective responsibilities and rights if occupational health and safety is to be effective. However, the respondents indicated that, the occupational health and safety measures put in place at the hospital were not sufficient, and most of the staff were also dissatisfied with the current occupational health and safety measures. The study recommended that hospital administration should organise regular training and workshop for staff on health and safety. Hospital administration should also institute a safety committee which would be constituted with the task of dealing with all occupational health and safety issues for the hospital and should also have a documented manual or policy on its occupational health and safety practices.