Compliance with national safety standards and associated factors among welders in Kampala district, Uganda

Background Compliance with Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards among welders is one way of reducing global injuries and health costs while improving industrial productivity and Uganda’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Addressing the occupational injury burden requires understanding contextual factors for compliance with occupational safety and health standards. This study focused to determine compliance levels with (sections 35 and 36) of the Uganda OSH Act, 2006 among Kampala welders, and the associated factors. Methodology: A cross-sectional mixed-methods study design was used. A sample of 425 welders was selected using simple random sampling and interviewed face-to-face in the five divisions of Kampala Capital City. The study was supplemented with 5 Key Informants purposively selected from the OSH Department, Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development (MGLSD), and the divisions in Kampala. Quantitative data was entered and cleaned in Stata 14; Association was measured using prevalence risk ratio estimates with a generalized linear model. Adjusted Prevalence Ratios (APR) were used as measures of association under 95% CI and 5% level of significance. Qualitative data were transcribed and analyzed thematically. Results The level of compliance to sections 35 and 36 was below the permissible level of 100% established by the MGLSD; nearly three quarters, 303/425 (71.29%) complied with PPE use (section 35) and less than half, 154/425 (36.24%) complied with incident documentation and reporting (section 36). Factors for compliance with Section 35 included; welders’ residence (Makindye), (APR = 1.33, 95% CI; 1.12–1.59), marital status: (APR = 1.37, 95% CI; 1.17–1.61), electric shocks in the last 6months: (APR = 1.18, 95% CI; 1.05–1.32), involvement in hazard analysis: (APR = 1.41, 95% CI; 1.25–1.58), safety knowledge: (APR = 1.26, 95% CI; 1.11–1.43), having supervisors in place: (APR = 0.86, 95% CI;0.76–0.98) and Section 36; welders’ residence (Makindye), (APR = 0.25, 95% CI; 0.23–0.75), > 6years welding experience: (APR = 0.44, 95% CI;0.21–0.96), and having OSH Policies in place: (APR = 3.61, 95% CI; 2.07–6.28). Conclusion Although welders’ compliance levels with PPE ranked above average but below that required my MGLSD, some welders had gotten used to the practice of working in risky environments without wearing full PPE, with reasons for not affording them. They lacked Incident documentation and thus needed support supervision from MGLSD.