Perception of Sawmill Workers towards Occupational Health and Safety at Linden/Soesdyke Highway, Guyana

Aims: Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is very important for sawmills just like any other occupation. Therefore, this study aims to assess the measures taken by sawmills to ensure safety is maintained at the workplace and to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) exhibited by woodworkers.

Methodology: Using observation checklists and questionnaires, a cross-sectional survey design was used for the study. A total of 8 sawmills located on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and 84 woodworkers were included in the study. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results. Analysis was done is SPSS software.

Results and Discussion: A total of 37.5% of sawmill workers scored above average. Workers showed inadequate knowledge, negative attitude and poor practice towards OSH as the overall mean scores for these were found to be 71%, 71.5% and 61.4% respectively. These were below the cut-off level (75%). There was a significant linear correlation between knowledge, attitude and practice.

Conclusion: It was concluded that employers need to put extra effort in providing workers with safety education and personal protective equipment’s (PPE). Education programs and training sessions need to be put in place as adequate knowledge results in positive attitude which results in good practice.