Effects of Occupational Safety and Health Management Practices on Work Environment in the Water Service Industry within Kisumu County - Kenya

The study sought to evaluate the impacts of occupational safety and health management practices on work environment in the Kenyan Kisumu County Water Service industry. The study utilized a descriptive research design. The target population consisted of employees of Kisumu Water and Sewerage Company (KIWASCO) and Lake Victoria South Water Service Board (LVSWSB) working in water treatment works, waste water treatment plants and construction sites. From population of 410, Sample size was determined using standard formula by Fisher (1983). Since the population was less than10, 000, the formula by Mugenda& Mugenda, (2003) was applied and 81 number of Questionnaires used to obtain primary data finally analyzed using quantitative techniques. A simple random sampling was employed to draw the respondents from each site and self-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to acquire data. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 21. Frequencies and percentages were obtained and correlations done using Spearmans correlation coefficients. On the respondents organizations, majority at 57 (75 %) worked at KIWASCO, 12 (15.79 %) worked at LVSWSB while the minority at 7 (9.21 %) worked at GULF. Preponderance of the respondents at 61 (80.3 %) were males while the least at 15 (19.7 %) females. Most of the respondents at 28 (36.6 %) were between 29-39 years of age while the same number of respondents forming the minority at 24 (31.6 %) were both between 18-28 years and 40-50 years of ages. Preponderance of the respondents at 61 (80.3 %) had attained college level of education as their highest, 9 (11.8 %) attained secondary while the minority at 6 (7.9 %) had attained primary level of education as their highest. On the number of years worked for the organization, majority at 27 (35.5 %) had worked for 4 years, 24 (31.6 %) had worked 1 year, 15 (19.7 %) had worked for 3 years while the least number of respondents at 10 (13.2 %) had worked for 2 years for their organization. Preponderance of the respondents at 49 (64.5 %) stated that water supply was their nature of work, 14 (18.4 %) stated construction as their nature of work while the minority at 13 (17.1 %) stated waste water as their nature of work. The study conducted a logistic regression analysis to ascertain the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables pulled together but holding the rest constant each time. The study analyzed the relationship between occupational safety and health management practices and work environment using Spearmans rho coefficient, CL=95 %. It was established that there is a significant strong positive relationship between occupational safety and health management practices and the work environment, r (76) =0.690**p=0.000. This meant that if the OSH management practices were strengthened, the work environment would improve. Standard deviation was adapted to measure disparity for the likert-scale questionnaires It was established that practicing occupational safety and health to a large extent would increase the chances of conducive working environment in the water service industry in Kisumu County by 80.056 %.