Effects of Occupational Environment on Employee Performance in Sugar Industries in Western Kenya

Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Act No. 15 of 2007 and reread in 2010, offers for the safety health and benefit of personnel and all individuals lawfully current at places of employment in Kenya. Despite this workers have continued to face occupational health and safety challenges which expose them to a wide range of accidents which eventually pull down their performance. According to ILO statistics on safety and health at work of 28th April 2016, 6300 individuals succumb daily due to occupational accidents or employment associated ailments and deaths exceeding 2.3 million yearly. The study was purposed to investigate the effect of occupational health and safety (OHS) on employee performance in Sugar Industries in Western Kenya. The explicit objective was to determine the effects of occupational environment on employee performance in sugar industries in Western Kenya. The target population comprised 8801 staff in all the sugar firms in Western Kenya. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 383. Primary data was gathered by use of questions which were validated through a pilot study of 10 staff prior to the main research. Cronbach alpha coefficient with a threshold of 0.70 was used to test the reliability of the research instrument. The study findings revealed that: occupational environment contributed to employee performance β=0.585. The R² change after incorporating Top Management Support was 0.290, P=0.000 implying that TMS statistically moderates the relationship between occupational health and safety and employee performance. Study concluded that: Occupational environment has a significant effect on employee performance while TMS has a significant moderator and influences the relationship between OHS and employee performance.