Developing an occupational health and safety policy for Chalimbana University

Abstract

All organisations, regardless of their size, nature, and type have hazards that pose risks to the health and safety of their workers and other individuals who come in contact with them. If not mitigated, these hazards can result in injury, illness, and death. As such, many governments require organisations operating in their boundaries to put in place measures for managing health and safety. Developing an OHS policy is universally considered the foundation of any efforts to managing occupational health and safety at the organisational level. There is no standard format for developing and designing an enterprise level occupational health and safety policy. As such, each organisation has to develop its own appropriate policy that responds to its unique characteristics such as size, nature of hazards, and type of work undertaken. However, an extensive review of literature revealed that an enterprise level OHS policy generally has the following three sections: health and safety policy statement; organisation of health and safety; and arrangements for health and safety. In view of the foregoing, this study sought to develop an occupational health and safety policy for Chalimbana University. This study was guided by the following five theories of public policy: elite theory, institutional theory, rational choice theory, systems theory, and group theory. It was descriptive in nature and employed a qualitative research design. Furthermore, the study used the case study method. A total of 31 informants were sampled purposively for purposes of this study. Both primary and secondary data were collected using interviews and published literature, respectively. The findings of the study revealed that Chalimbana University has a few hazards that have been posing continuous risks to managers, workers, students, infant learners, parents and guardians, visitors, and contractors. In addition, the study revealed that the University did not have any formalised occupational health and safety management mechanisms in place. As such, the study proposed a comprehensive and proactive occupational health and safety policy for Chalimbana University that has three main components as follows: health and safety policy statement; organisation of health and safety; and arrangements for health and safety. Among others, this study recommends the speedy implementation of Zambia's national occupational health and safety policy, reviewing occupational health and safety laws in the country, restructuring Zambia's occupational health and safety institutions, and establishing a national occupational health and safety data base centre for the country.