Occupational Hazards and Safety Practices Among Workers of Correctional Centers in Rivers State

Abstract

The security of the prison personnel has just lately grown to be a serious problem. Because of the nature of the job, correctional guards often encounter perilous circumstances. While working as prison guards or transporting inmates, many correctional officers have suffered injuries or have been killed. However, administrators of correctional facilities now place a higher priority than ever on the physical and mental well-being of their staff. Examined workplace hazards and employees' opinions of safety procedures at the Nigerian Correctional Center in Rivers State. Four goals, four appraisal questions, and two hypotheses served as the appraisal's guiding principles. The appraisal used a hybrid approach that included quantitative and qualitative approaches. 205 employees of correctional facilities made up the appraisal's population, from whom 136 were selected using a multistage selection technique. Data were gathered using an interview guide and verified self-structured questionnaire with a reliability value of 0.903. Following the examiner's instrument administration, 132 fully completed copies of the instrument were retrieved, representing a 97% return rate. Data analysis techniques included percentage, mean, standard deviation, chi squares, and discourse analysis. The employees were exposed to a range of risks, including physical, biological, chemical, and psychological risks, with physical risks predominating, in congruent with the upshots. With a reactive approach to worker safety and hazard management, the correctional institutions' overall hazard control measures were subpar. However, the workers' safety procedures were generally sound, as evidenced by their high mean scores for pre-employment instruction, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and the availability of first aid kits at the workplace. In congruent with the appraisal's upshots, the pe