WORKPLACE SAFETY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION IN THE NIGERIA WORKSETTING

Abstract

Workplace safety is sacrosanct for employees’ health and organisational performance. When workplace safety measure is given serious attention, it reduces organisational hazards and injuries. This study attempts to elucidate the psychological explanation to workplace safety in Nigerian setting taking into cognisance the psychological  theories of reasoned action, hierarchy of needs theory, value expected model, Protection Motivation theory and  social learning theories to explain how employees think rational and reasonable to workplace safety. Relatedly, employees learn through observational learning and try to avoid negative events and stimulus that would endanger their lives in a workplace setting. Consequently, employees consider safety in workplace as a basic hierarchy of needs to be satisfied by humans. Employees behave responsible and reasonably to the safety rules and regulation in a workplace setting. There is no gain saying to the fact that adherence to  the workplace safety of  any organisation plays a key role in reducing accident and injuries and thereby increasing organisational performance, employees’ safety, job satisfaction and quality of life. Nevertheless, due to the technological knowhow and the rapid increase in the capacity of production of goods or services, many organisations have adopted advanced technology to workplace setting. Thus, brought about more hazardous waste and injuries to employees. This has created a heavy burden on occupational errors or accidents. However, to minimise this injuries. The Nigerian Association of Industrial and Organisational Psychologists (NAIOP) should wade in and carry out an aggressive awareness campaign on the need for all categories of workers to adhere to workplace safety measures with a view to minimising cases of  accidents and injuries  across industries and organisations in Nigeria.