Causes for Less Optimal Adherence of Employees to the COVID-19 Work Place Safety Guideline and Suggestions for Improvement; Employees Perception

Adherence to covid 19 work place safety guidelines needs to be optimal for the control of disease transmission among employees in work places. However, the results of an audit showed that the compliance of employees to this guideline is less optimal in a busy work place in Sri Lanka, named Suwasiripaya which is situated in a highly populated city. Therefore, this research study was conducted to identify the causes for this less optimal adherence and to provide recommendations from employees’ perspective. Single day descriptive cross sectional study was conducted with 10 % of the total population taken as a convenient sample (N – 135). It was divided among staff categories, using quata sampling. Data was collected using a Self – Administered Questionnaire with both closed ended questions and open ended questions. Only 56.9 % of participants said that the information regarding the guideline was formally delivered to them.49.2 % were aware of the facts in the guideline only to some extent. The reasons for any poor adherence to work place guideline (from employees perspective), categorized into 08 main themes and placed according to descending order of impact are as follows; 1. Limited resources (83 %) 2. Management issues (48.9 %) 3. Transport problems (36.2 %) 4. Poor attitudes (35.1 %) 5. Wrong practices (34 %) 6. Inadequate knowledge (17 %) 7. Perception of No gaps (5.3 %) and 8. Physical problems (4.31 %). Suggestions from employees to improve adherence to work place guidelines, categorized into 07 main themes and placed according to descending order of impact is as follows; 1. Managerial changes (45.4 %) 2. Personal measures (43.2 %) 3. Staff education (43.3 %) 4. Change duty rosters (39.2 %), 5. Supervision (35.1 %), 6. Law enforcement (13.4 %) and others (3.1 %). Answering to this questionnaire itself seems to be an eye opener to the employees to identify the areas they should focus more at this critical period.