The extent of awareness of occupational health and safety among employees in a financial institution

Abstract

This study focuses on several issues related to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) attempted to test the level of awareness of these issues among the employees of the Central Bank of Malta. The tool of analysis was a questionnaire administered to a representative stratified sample of employees of this bank, based on the hypotheses and the questions raised that emerged from the review of the literature. Overall data emanating from the survey reveal that the level of awareness about health and safety could be defined as moderate rather high. The knowledge about the legal provisions related to OHS tends to be rather scant among the employees. This is highlighted by their lack of knowledge about the duties which the law imposes on the employers as well as the rights and duties it confers on employees. In spite of this rather moderate level of awareness and lack of knowledge of the law, by and large, the employees tend to be concerned about the hazards of health at the place of work and they are also very sensitive to OHS issues. In other words the findings reveal that their level of concern and sensitivity tends to be higher than their awareness and knowledge of the law. For example overall respondents express their appreciation of educational and training programmes about OHS. There is also a wide level of consensus that certain OHS issues such as Stress and Musculoskeletal Disorders should be high on the agenda of the organisation. The data however reveal that in their attitude to OHS issues the employees are not a homogeneous group in the sense that in some cases there is a divergence in the answers given by different categories of persons. For example the executive grade employees seem to suffer more from work related stress than the other categories of employees. As regards training, the clerical and non-clerical tend to be keener to attend training and education courses. Length of service also emerged as an important factor in the sense that the longer one has been in employment the more he/she tends to conform to OHS policy and follow its guideline. The most positive aspect that emerged from the survey is the very high level of satisfaction about the security measures provided by the bank. On the basis of this data the study concludes with a number of recommendations for a more comprehensive OHS policy at the bank the implementation of which will bring about a higher level of awareness of OHS issues among employees and a higher degree of compliance.