Disaster Risk Reduction Programs and Their Effectiveness at Workplace in Industries, Eldoret Municipality, Kenya

According to the Kenya Minister of State for Special Programs (MSSP),Kenya lacks a comprehensive disaster preparedness policy. It has inefficient disaster management framework and strategies, which makes its economy and population highly vulnerable to natural and manmade disaster risks. Major disaster response initiatives are an ad hoc and short term and mainly comprising of emergency relief. It has previously managed some of them without an effective emergency system due to high level of support from the international community leading to huge costs to the country (GoK, 2009). This paper looks into the disaster risk reduction programs employed by industries at workplace in Eldoret Municipality, Kenya. The study employed survey and evaluation designs. Purposive sampling was used to select the industries and simple random sampling to select the study units which included; Managerial staff and workers of large, middle and small scale factories in Eldoret, labor officers in the Ministry of labor (Public Health Officers), fire brigade officers, Kenya National Environment Management Authority and the Kenya Red Cross Society Regional officials. Interviews and questionnaires were used for data collection from administrators and other factory employees while observation was used to identify risks within the workplace. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequencies, t-test,x2-square and ANOVA.It was concluded that Education and training is a major risk reduction measure that employers must have in place as a program to curb workplace hazards.  They should ensure job applicants are adequately trained, and if not, provide for them on job training. The study therefore recommended that employers should ascertain the knowledge level of their employees before assigning them duties on machinery. Keywords: Disaster management programs, Risk reduction, Effectiveness, Workplace risks, Hazards, Machinery.

Safety Intervention Role Played by Various Entities in Disaster Risk Reduction in Eldoret Municipality Industries, Kenya

Work place disasters have been a major global concern. In Kenya, media reports and literature sources indicate that the government has poor safety standards and inadequate disaster preparedness. Disruption of business activities as a result of disasters can be attributed to inadequate attention to disaster risk prevention and poor management by organizations as an economic and business issue. A much closer interaction between businesses and government as well as related organizational bodies is needed to ensure appropriate risk reduction strategies and adequate measures for implementation. This paper thus evaluates the safety intervention role played by various entities and organizations in reducing the Disaster risks. Eldoret Municipality in Kenya is the area of focus given that it is one of the towns with the biggest manufacturing industries in Kenya. The authors carried out a survey of large, middle and small scale factories in Eldoret. Purposive sampling was used to select the industries and simple random sampling to select the study units which included Managerial staff and operational workers as well as labor officers in the Ministry of labor (Public Health Officers), fire brigade officers, Kenya National Environment Management Authority (KNEMA) and the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) Regional officials. Interviews and questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study found out that there is need for a combined effort of disaster risk reduction between international agencies, national governments and the local community as well as individuals at work since each one has a role to play in ensuring safety of the workplace. The paper recommends enhancement of work-based interventions in all the organizations despite the level of production. Organizations and individuals must adhere to and be accountable to health and safety requirements of their workplace in order to reduce risks. Key words: Disaster, Risk reduction, International agencies, Local agencies, Safety, Collaboration