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One of the problems in organizations, especially in hospitals, is that injury rates are increasing because most safety programs lack the essential safety measures for accident reduction in the workplace.
The study examined the safety measures that played a role in accident and injury reduction in the workplace. Specifically, the old and new safety programs of an anonymous company was investigated to identify the safety measures that distinguished both programs, their impact on injury rates, and whether the variables of safety program and the variables of safety performance are independent. Data were described by a narrative method, displayed by descriptive statistics, and analyzed by chi square test of independence.
The results showed that: (1) The new safety program had twenty-one additional safety measures more than the old safety program; (2) The old safety program increased the recordable injuries by an average of 85%, increased lost workday cases by an average of 14%, and increased incidence rates by an average of 31%; (3) The new safety program decreased the recordable injuries by 48%, decreased lost workday cases by 3%, decreased incidence rates by 51%, and decreased lost workday rates by 12%; and (4) chi square test of independence showed that the safety performance for the recordable injuries and lost workday cases were different across the old and new safety programs. X² (1, N = 1259) = 29.76, p < 0.001.
The researcher concluded that: (1) The new management at the company was committed to safety performance improvements; (2) The new safety program performed better than the old safety program; and (3) safety performance variables were dependent of the safety program variables. The researcher recommended that the new management finalize pending policies and also, to perform facility safety inspections semi-annually rather than annually in selected areas so that hazards can be identified more quickly.
Lastly, this study and the results thereof, provided useful information to safety professionals and organizations that plan to develop and implement a successful safety program that will reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace. |
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