The study presents a mathematical approach of safety policy in terms of safety target and budget implementation factor. System dynamics were used to develop a hybrid model of accident occurrence and preventions in terms of pre-safety programme accidents, budgeting factor, proportion of budget to be implemented, strategy effectiveness index, workforce, accident proneness factor, prevented accidents, accident reduction target, probability parameter and estimated cost of accident. Hence, a cost savings/loss model was derived in terms of the identified parameters. Proportion of budget to be implemented (P) and accident reduction target (T) are the input policy parameters. At proportion of planned budget below P = 0.6 showed that the budget would not be enough to reduce any accident nor save any cost. Thus, throughout the simulation period, a minimum monetary savings of N10.775 millions was achieved at P=1 and T=10% and highest monetary savings of N36.955millions was achieved at and T=25%.
Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs) have been seen as major health problems that have direct impacts on workers’ physical/psychosocial well beings, health, and productivity. Thus, the assessment of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) in sawmills will lead to a suitable platform for development and execution of proper ergonomic intervention programmes to achieve desirable workplaces. This research focused on determining the prevailing factors associated with MSDs and establishment of exposure’s level of sawmill workers to MSDs, based on risk and postural analyses using Quick Exposure Check (QEC), Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) and Rapid Upper Limb Assessment Method (RULA); and physical strain assessment using relative Cardiovascular Load (% CVL), Cardiovascular Strain (% CVS) and Relative Heart Rate (%RHR) equations. Six hundred and sixty – three (663) male and thirty – three (33) female workers participated in the research survey and the participants were classified into two groups: machine operators’ classification (which included: Band-saw Operators (BOs), Circular-saw Operators (COs) and Planer Operators (POs)) and sawmill workers’ classification (which included: Machine Operators (MOs), Mill Workers (MWs), Dust Parkers (DPs); and Machine Maintenance Personnel (MMPs)). Ninety – six (96) workers each from each machine operators’ classification group (making 288 MOs), 240 MWs, 96 DPs, and 72 MMPs were considered for this study. Two cities were considered in each six Southwestern States of Nigeria, namely: Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo States and a minimum of two sawmills were used in each city. The results of the postural analysis using QEC, REBA, and RULA show that an appreciable number of workers were working above the secured limit. Physical strain assessment results showed that not less than 60% of the workers were operating under high or very high-level discomfort and 61.8% of the workers were subjected to either heavy or very heavy work intensity.
Sawmill activities are characterized with different degrees of injuries and accidents due to indecorous handling of sawmill machineries, lack of necessary accident prevention facilities, skill, poor safety culture and practices. However, to guarantee safety in this kind of environment, it is highly imperative that the industry adopt and implement a range of effective occupational health and safety management measures in an efficient way that will lead to more favorable and safe environment for all stakeholders. The safety of stakeholders and facilities however necessitated this work. Two major sawmills were considered in two main towns or cities in each of the six southwestern states of Nigeria, namely: Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo States, which formed part of the major wood producing rain forest areas in Nigeria. Some of the accidents causing activities identified were: human, deficiency in maintenance, environmental and Lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among others. Sawmill safety activities were classified as training, (PPE), safety awareness creation, accident investigation, motivation/incentives, machine/tools procurement and security/safety enforcement. Sixteen safety strategies were developed using combinatorial method with training, PPE and motivation/incentives as compulsory activities. System dynamics software (Vensim 7.2) was then used to delineate the causal and flow diagrams. A system dynamic model was developed as valuable leading tool for effective safety planning and management in sawmill industry.
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