The Assessment of the Compliance to Occupational Health and Safety Measures among the Health Workers in Three Selected Districts Health Facilities in Kigali, Rwanda

Background: Globally, work place safety does not occur without a challenge especially in resource constrained set up. This is further worsened by poor hazard control system, lack of task management system and role ambiguity. Aim: This study tried to assess the compliance to occupational health and safety measures among workers from study site. Methodology: Study adopted a cross sectional design involving both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches. It was carried out among health care workers in the three selected District health facilities in Kigali, Rwanda between July 2016 and December 2016. From a study population of 631 health care worker, about 249 participants were selected systematically, adopting probability proportional to size sampling, Semi structured questionnaire, a focus group discussion guide, an observational checklist was used and policy document review carried out. Data analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistics. Differences in the parameter of estimate were considered significantly different at P<0.05. Results: Study findings showed that four factors were significantly associated with compliance to safety regulations with P<0.05, these includes; factor related to policy enforcement, Hazard report system, Individual level associated factors and health facility level associated factors. Policy gap analysis and focus group discussion revealed low compliance despite accreditation system adopted to improve quality of care in Rwanda, especially in relation to work environment design, hazard detection, case identification, and investigation and follow up documentation. The waste management practices were not in full compliance with international standard. Conclusion: Finally, there was real evidence of poor compliance to hazards incident reports, investigations, follow up and training gap and absence of safety guidelines including individual character short falls. Therefore the government, workers, and health facility administrators must address the policy enforcement related issues, carryout re-structuring, with improved safety training and surveillance, enhanced safety communication and workers capacity building.

Author(s): Chinenye Mercy Nwankwo*, Simon Karanja and Hilda Vasanthakaalam

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