ABSTRACT
The study Occupational Health Hazards among workers of Seven Up Bottling Company Plc Kaduna was carried out with the aim of identifying occupational health problems among the workers and predisposing factors of such problems. It was also to assess the knowledge and practice of safety measures among the workers and determine measures taken by the authorities to reduce these problems. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out in the premises of Seven Bottling Company Kaduna within eight weeks in April-May 2006. The study was carried out by use of indept interview of the Head of Human resources and structured questionnaire administered to the entire 240 workers of the company. The information on the types of hazards expose to, knowledge, attitude and practical use of protective devices were obtained. The result showed that about 87 out of 209 respondents ever had injury on the job, the management and staff of Seven Up bottling company plc Kaduna are aware of existing hazards in their workplace, do have pre-employment training, provision of protective devices and work together as a family. The main predisposing factors associated with occupational health problem in the company include low pay and lack of formal education. Chi square test to determine relationship between age, educational level, years of service, satisfaction on the job, pre-placement safety training, awareness of safety measures, all showed significant positive relationship with injury at workplace. The study concluded that even though the management of Seven-up Bottling company plc Kaduna has adequate safety policy as well as safety committee that organizes induction courses for new employees, educates workers on safety and monitors the workers to ensure strict compliance with safety rules, few recommendations were made for both the staff and management of the company. This recommendation include: The management should endeavor to provide more safety devices, have more safety meetings with the workers fortnightly, enforce usage of safety devices and improve on remunerations, starting with those workers who comply best with safety rules and regulations. The workers should learn more about safety all the time, follow safety rules displayed on the factory premises, use the safety devices any time they are on duty and discuss with the management freely about safety on the job.