EFFECTS OF SAFETY HEALTH PRACTICES ON COMPETITIVENESS OF GRAIN MILLING FIRMS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY-KENYA
Abstract
Milling industries are becoming very competitive thus forcing them to seek suitable management strategies with the intention of enhancing their competitiveness and efficiency. In Uasin Gishu County there is a depression of demand and increased competition adversely affecting performance of the grain milling companies. Occupational health and safety remain one of the challenges hampering their competitiveness owing to their challenges in implementation as a strategy. Its significance is hinged on the fact that occupational health and safety management contributes to competitive advantage both directly and indirectly by creating safe workplaces and a healthy environment. However, studies on outcomes of occupational health and safety management are scarce on competitiveness of the grain milling industry in the Kenyan context. This motivated the study on effect of safety health practices on competitiveness of grain milling firms in Uasin Gishu county-Kenya. This study adopted descriptive survey research design with a target population of 686 employees from the four grain mailing companies in Uasin Gishu County. The sample size was 292 respondents to take care of non-response rate. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential techniques using SPSS version 25 and presented using tables. From the findings the value of adjusted R squared was .202 an indication that there was a variation of 20.2 % on the competitiveness in grain milling firms in Uasin Gishu county due to occupational health and safety management practices at 95% confidence interval. Thus, all the Occupational health and safety management practices have a significant effect on competitiveness as supported by Porters generic theory. This implied that grain milling companies should create a safe workplaces and healthy environments to increase employee satisfaction which in turn increases competitiveness and firm performance
Key words: Occupational Health and Safety Management Practices and Competitiveness
CITATION: Okita, G. O., & Onyango, R. (2021). Effects of safety health practices on competitiveness of grain milling firms in Uasin Gishu County-Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 8 (2), 178 – 187.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v8i2.1978
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