HEALTH AND PSYCHOSOCIAL HAZARDS IN NIGERIAN BOTTLING COMPANY, OWERRI AND NIGERIAN BREWERIES LTD, 9TH MILE, ENUGU: EMPLOYEES’ PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

Work related hazards remain one of the major challenges facing manufacturing industriesglobally. Employees are active participants in production processes. Consequently, many areexposed to precarious situations that may not just affect their health and psychosocialwellbeing, but hampers their performance. This paper examined health and psychosocialhazards in Nigerian Bottling Company, Owerri and Nigerian Breweries Ltd, 9th Mile, Enugu,using employees’ perspectives. Three specific objectives and one hypothesis guided this paper.The theoretical underpinning was person-environment fit theory. Mixed-methods researchdesign was adopted and population of study is one thousand, one hundred and sixty-one (1,161)employees. The sample size is five hundred and sixty-eight (568). Multi-stage samplingtechniques was used in selecting respondents, while purposive sampling method was used inselecting six (6) interviewees. Questionnaire and in-depth interviews (IDI) guide served asmajor instruments for data collection. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptivestatistics such as frequency counts, percentages, mean scores, Likert scale, bar chart. Thehypothesis was tested with chi-square (x2) through the aid of SPSS, while qualitative data weresubjected to thematic extraction and content analysis. The findings revealed that psychosocialhazards were more prevalent and most encountered by the respondents than health hazards.While health hazards were most encountered at Nigerian Brewery 9th Mile, psychosocialhazards dominated at Nigerian Bottling Company, Owerri. It also showed that most commonlyencountered health hazards among employees were accidental injuries, noise/vibration,extreme heat, contact with microbial pathogens, contaminated air and water, chemical splash,dust silica etc. It further indicated that mental and emotional stress, work overload, stress andburnout, feelings of job insecurity, unjust criticisms, and bullying were major psychosocialhazards confronting the employees. Hypothesis result showed that there is a significantdifference in the opinion of male and female employees regarding major forms of healthhazards confronting employees (p=.000, <0.05). This paper concluded that prevalence ofhazards that could endanger not just physical health but psychosocial wellbeing would onlymare individual and organizational productivity. It, therefore, recommended amongst othersthat organizations, especially bottling and beverage companies should give adequate attentionto issues of psychosocial hazards. This is giving that it is a silent killer, especially when beingplayed down. The present economic crisis in Nigeria is already overburdening many peopleand compounding it with issues at workplace is to drag people to their grave faster thanexpected.