Evaluation of Workplace Safety Training Programmes in Reducing Occupational Injuries

Abstract

Occupational injuries remain a major preventable public health and workplace management concern. Injuries occur when hazards are not recognised, controls are not applied, unsafe behaviours become routine or workers are not adequately prepared for emergency situations. Workplace safety training programmes are designed to improve hazard awareness, safe operating procedures, correct use of personal protective equipment, incident reporting, emergency response and participation in the safety system. The global burden of work-related disease and injury demonstrates that occupational health requires systematic prevention rather than only treatment after injury. A descriptive cross-sectional evaluative design was used with comparative review of injury records before and after training exposure. The study sample consisted of 120 workers and supervisors. Data were organised through a structured knowledge questionnaire, workplace safety practice observation checklist, training record review checklist, injury record review format and safety training quality assessment tool. The findings indicated that 56.7% of participants had good post-training knowledge, 35.0% had moderate knowledge and 8.3% had poor knowledge regarding workplace safety. Full training coverage was reported among 70.0% of participants, partial training among 18.3% and no training among 11.7%. The overall observed safe practice score was satisfactory to good, but relatively weaker domains included lockout/tagout awareness, hazard reporting and refresher training.