Bonfring International Journal of Data Mining, Vol. 5, No.

1, February 2015

Health and Safety Measures in Chettinad

Cement Corporation Limited, Karur
Dr.G. Yoganandan and G. Sivasamy
Abstract--- The cement industry plays an important role in
the construction and engineering industry. This study aimed at
finding out the views and awareness workers on health and
safety measures in Chettinad Cement Corporation Limited,
Karur. The various welfare measures provided by the
employer will have immediate impact on the health, physical
and mental efficiency of the employees. The sample size was
319. The tools used in this research are percentage analysis,
chi-square, t-test and factor analysis. This study found that
majority of the employees belong to the age group of 31-40
year and there is a significance relationship between
experience and their perception on health and safety measures
in Chettinad Cement Corporation Limited and there is a
significance relationship between designation and the workers
perception on overall facilities. The study suggested that the
organization need to increase salary to the employees, take
appropriate measure to reduce the air pollution caused by the
manufacturing operation and also through other measures like
planting trees and using air filters.

according to the value system, social institution, degree of

industrialization an general level of social and economic
development. Even within one country, its content may be
different from region to region. The Chambers Dictionary
defines the term welfare as state characterized by happiness
well-being of property. Welfare refers to a state of living of an
individual or a group in a desirable relationship with total
environment ecological, economic and social. The welfare
measure provided by the organization enhances the image of
the organization among the working community, it helps the
organization to ensure industrial peace and reduce the attrition
rate of workers, it also enhances the productivity of the
workers and thus improves the standard of living of the
employees. According to the international labour organization
report workers welfare may be understood as including such
services, facilities and amenities as may be established in the
vicinity of undertakings to perform their work in healthy and
congenial surroundings and to avail themselves of facilities
which improve their health and bring high morale Prabu[1].

Keywords--- Cement Industry, Employee Health, Labour

Welfare, Working Condition, Safety

II.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of this study.

I.

INTRODUCTION

VERY organization has to put tremendous attention on

the management of health and safety of workers in the
workplace. The individual employee who not well in term of
physical and psychological (mental) health may be one of the
important causes of accident which may result in an injury in
the workplace or work-related ill health for others also. The
health and safety if not managed properly would lead to
serious long-term consequences. The law expects the
employers to be responsible for the health and safety of their
employees. Employers also have moral responsibility to their
employees to protect their health and safety. The organizations
need to ensure that people are not injured as a result of work.
Labour Welfare is an essential part of social welfare. It
means the adjustment of the labours work life, social life and
family life to the society. The concept of welfare is necessarily
dynamic, bearing a different interpretation from country to
country, from time to time and even in the same country
Dr.G. Yoganandan, Assistant Professor, Department of Management
Studies(MBA), K.S.R College of Arts and Science(Autonomous),Tiruchengode,
Tamil Nadu, India637215. E-mail:g_yoganandan@yahoo.com
G. Sivasamy, Research Scholar [M.Phil-Management], K.S.R College of
Arts and Science (Autonomous), Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu, India637215. Email:sivaonkongu@gmail.com
DOI: 10.9756/BIJDM.8024

To study the effectiveness of health and safety

measures adopted by Chettinad Cement Corporation
Limited, Karur.
To know the employees perception regarding the
safety programs and practices.
To find out the impact of industrial safety and work
environment on productivity.
To find out the employees satisfaction on the safety
measures and work environment in Chettinad Cement
Corporation Limited, Karur.
III.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study aimed at finding out the views and awareness

workers on health and safety measures in Chettinad Cement
Corporation Limited, Karur. For the purpose of gathering data
from the employees, a detailed questionnaire was prepared by
carefully taking ideas from the previous researches done in
this concept - health and safety measures. Stratified random
sampling method was adopted by the researchers to gather the
data from the employees working in the company. The
researchers distributed 350 questionnaires but only 319 filledin questionnaires were identified by the researcher as valid for
the purpose of research and therefore the sample size of the
study was 319. Statistical tools like percentage analysis, chisquare analysis, t-test and factor analysis are used to analyse
the data. The researchers carefully scrutinised relevant
literatures in order to understand the studies conducted in the

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Bonfring International Journal of Data Mining, Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2015

areas of health and safety measures. It should be noted that

there was in-depth study conducted with respect to health and
safety measures in cement industry hence there exist a
research gap and the researchers would like to address the
research gap by conducting a study on the above mentioned
topic.
IV.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Deepali S. Kadam [2] in her article A Study of Health and

Safety Measures With Reference to Selected Co-Operative
Sugar Factories found that implemented health provisions
give job satisfaction to majority of workers. The author
suggested that the organisation should provide good fencing
facilities to avoid accidents in the industry. The study also
suggested that the organization should provide safety
equipment to all workers, who work at height occasionally or
daily. Logasakthi [3] in her article A study on employee
health, safety and welfare measures of Chemical industry in
the view of Salem region found that there is a relationship
between the experience and safety, there is no difference
between age and periodic health check up facilities of the
organisation. The study has also found that most of the
respondents satisfied with the facilities provided by the
organization. The author suggested that the organisation can
provide overcoat and mask to avoid health infection. Prabakar.
S [4] in his article Employees satisfaction & welfare
measures: A case study with special reference to Don Bosco
College of Arts & Science found that out of all the employees
are joined in trade union most of the respondents are having
more than 10 years of experience. Majority of the employees
are highly satisfied with the welfare facilities. The author
suggested to the management that the employees are not aware
of the existing schemes. Sulaiman [5] in his article A Study
on Employees Satisfaction and Safety Measures found that
there is no difference between the satisfaction levels of
employees regarding the safety measures within the
organisation. The author suggested to the company that the
safety policies can be made be known to all employees,
contract employees by circulating the policies in both English
and regional language. The study also suggested that enough
attention should be given on minor accidents so that major
accidents can be prevented.
Gabriel Dwomoh [6] in his article Impact of occupational
health and safety policies on employees performance in the
Ghanas timber industry: Evidence from Lumber and Logs
Limited found there is a positive relationship between health
and safety policies and employees performance. The author
suggested to the company that they should concentrate more
on to reduce the accidents in the workplace. The study also
suggested that the organization can take more steps to satisfy
the employees and, to retain them with the organisation.
Ramanigopal [7] in his article Effectiveness of health safety
measures towards employees of Bharat Heavy Electrical
Limited found that majority of the employees are aware of
health and safety policy. Most of the respondents agree that
the managements response towards accident is very quick.
The author suggested that the organization shall provide
training programs frequently to the employees so that they can

upgrade themselves. The study has also suggested that the

company can provide safety equipments to the apprentices
working in the organisation. Ruby Melody Agbola [8] in his
article Impact of Health and Safety Management on
Employee Safety at the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority
found that majority of the employees knows very well about
the organisations health and safety policy. Nearly one third of
employees have experienced accidents or health problems that
are related to works. The author pointed out to the company
that health and safety management systems occurs due to,
ignorance of safety regulations, lack of safety rules,
unavailability of essential safety equipments, poor training in
safety.
Mark Fleming [9] in his report Assessing Employee
Safety Motivation states that the main goal of this study is to
develop an instrument to assess employee safety motivation
and to evaluate the reliability and validity of this newly
developed measure. The author found that there is a lack of
motivation for the employees about the safety work
environment. The author suggested to the company to
concentrate more on training and education about the safety
working condition to the employees. The study also
highlighted that there should be less work load to the
employees so that the employees will be able to concentrate
more on safety working environment.
Nor
Azimah
Chew Abdullah [10] in his article Assessing Employees
Perception on Health and Safety Management in Public
Hospitals states that the study is conducted to know the
safety satisfaction, role of supervisor, safety objectives &
involvement. General view of the employees with regard to
their occupational health and safety practices were low. There
was also a trend to look at health and safety practices as
preventing quick and effective working. The health and safety
issues affect both men and women at work. The author
suggested to that the communication should be in proper way
to reach all the employees. There is a need for ongoing
commitment and determination from all employees to improve
safety performance in an organization.
V.

ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

Table: 1 Distribution of Employees on the Basis of

Demographic Variables
Demographic variables
Gender

Age

Educational
Qualification
Marital Status
Designation

Male
Female
18-30 Years
31-40 Years
41-50 Years
51-60 Years
Below 12th
Diploma
UG
PG
Unmarried
Married
Worker
Supervisor

Source: Primary data

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Number of
respondents
283
36
103
156
60
0
84
61
174
0
30
289
180
139

Percentage
88.7
11.3
32.3
48.9
18.8
0
26.3
19.1
54.6
0
9.6
90.4
56.4
43.6

Bonfring International Journal of Data Mining, Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2015

It is clear from the table 1 that majority of the employees

in the cement industry are male. The ratio of female
employees to male employees is 1:8, which shows in the
cement industry, there is a clear gender preference or bias. The
educational background of majority of employees in the
cement industry is under-graduation and majority of the
employees fall in the age group of 31- 40 years. Majority of
the employees are married and majority of the employees are
workers.
Chi-square analysis is used in this research to find out the
association between (1) experience of the employees and their
perception on health and safety factors, (2) designation of the
employees and their perception on overall facilities available
in the organization for health and safety.
Table 2: Association between Experience and Perception on
Health and Safety (Chi square)
Pearson chi-square

Calculated value
106.190 (a)

DF
6

Table value
12.592

Source: Primary data

It is evident from the table 2 that the calculated value is
more than the table value. Therefore Null hypothesis is
rejected. Hence, it is inferred that there is a significant
relationship between experience of the employees and their
perception on health and safety measures in Chettinad Cement
Corporation Limited, Karur.
Table 3: Association between Designation and Perception on
Overall Facilities for Health and Safety (Chi square)
Pearson Chi-Square

Calculated value
13.273a

DF
2

Table value
5.991

Source: Primary data

It is evident from the table 3 that the calculated value is
more than the table value. Therefore Null hypothesis is
rejected. Hence, it is inferred that there is a significant
relationship between designation of the employee and their
perception on the overall facilities provided by the company
for employee health and safety.
To identify the factors influencing the health and safety of
workers in the cement industry, the researchers have adopted
factor analysis. The variables are chosen from past research
works. The factor analysis is applied on the variables to reduce
those variables into few factors. The following section deals
with the results of factor analysis.
Table 4: KMO and Bartletts Test
Kaisers-Meyer-Olkin Measure of sampling Adequacy
Approx. Chi-Square
Bartletts Test of Sphericity
Df
Sig

.638
5473.086
300
.000

The table 4 shows the value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin

Measure of sampling adequacy, which is 0.638. The test value
of Bartletts Test of Sphericity was significant and it is
indicating that correlation matrix is not an identify matrix.
This KMO and Bartletts are signifying the value i.e. 0.638
which is greater than the value 0.5. Hence the value signifies
that data collected is highly significant for conducting factor
analysis.

Table 5: Factors Influencing the Health and Safety of

Employees
Factors

Safety

Welfare

Health
Working
condition
Sound Pollution
Proffer
Fringe benefits
Air pollution

Variables
Ventilation
Machinery Condition
Drinking Water
First Aid
Ambulance
Shoes
Helmet
Gloves
Canteen
Transport
Uniform
Medical Check up
Shift timings
Cleanliness
Lighting
Hours of working
Training & Development
Noise
Leave
Recreational
Hospital
Insurance
Grievance
Dust & Fumes
Mask

Factor Loading
.653
.601
.561
.538
.734
.748
.849
.866
.828
.759
.447
.683
.595
.576
.721
.786
.729
.765
.708
.741
.498
.214
.848
.591
.810

The factor analysis is a factor reduction technique. The

variables can be regroup using the factor analysis as follows.
Factor 1 - Safety
Ventilation, machinery condition, drinking water, first aid,
ambulance, shoes, helmet and gloves make the first factor
which may be named as safety.
Factor 2 - Welfare
Canteen, transport and uniform make the second factor
which may be named as welfare.
Factor 3 Health
Medical check up, shift timings, Cleanliness and lighting
make the third factor which
may be named as health.
Factor 4 - Working condition
Hours of working and training & development make the
fourth factor which may be
named
as
working
condition.
Factor 5 Sound pollution
This factor consists of one factor Noise.
Factor 6 - Proffer
Leave, recreational and hospital make the sixth factor
which may be named as proffer.
Factor 7 Fringe Benefits
Insurance, grievance and dust & fumes make the seventh
factor which may be named
as fringe benefits.

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Bonfring International Journal of Data Mining, Vol. 5, No. 1, February 2015

Factor 8 Air Pollution

This factor consists of one factor namely mask facility.
The author would like to highlight that only in 5 variables
the factor loading is very strong, that is above .8. The
organization has to at least focus on the five variables or four
factors is the criteria of choosing the factor is fixed as factor
loading of 0.8 and above. The four factors are

Factor 1 Helmet (.849) and Gloves (.866)

Factor 2 Canteen facility (.828)
Factor 3 Grievance handling (.848) and
Factor 4 Mask facility (.810)
The researchers would like to point out that to
consider the factor variables with factor loading of .8 and
above or consider even lesser variables with lesser factor
loading is at the discretion of individual researchers and there
is no hard and fast rule on this.
VI.

FINDINGS

The study found that majority (88.7%) of employees are

male in the cement industry, majority (90.4%) of employee are
married, majority (66.1%) of employees are savings less than
3,000 per month and, majority (68%) of employees are
working in both A & B shifts. The study also found majority
(92.5%) of employees have joined the labour union, majority
(71.5%) of employees travel around 5 KM every day to come
for work in Chettinad Cement Corporation Limited, Karur.
The study has also found that there is a significant relationship
between experience of the employees and their perception on
health and safety measures in Chettinad Cement Corporation
Limited, Karur. There is a significant relationship between
designation of the employees and their perception on overall
facilities provided by the organisation.
VII.

SUGGESTIONS

The following are the suggestions to the company to

improve the health and safety measures of the employees. The
researchers suggests to the company to check the machinery
condition and make service at a periodical time and to control
the air pollution by planting trees around the industry and
nearby villages or areas. The study also suggests to the
company to concentrate in the working conditions like
lighting, safety equipments, which is not up to the satisfaction
of the employees.
VIII.

CONCLUSION

The study aimed at finding out the health and safety

measures of workers in Chettinad Cement Corporation
Limited, Karur. For this purpose, a sample size of 319 was
taken and stratified random sampling technique was adopted
to choose the respondents. The study found that majority of
the employees belongs to the age group of 31-40 years. The

study has found that majority of the employees are

undergraduates and possess 5-15 years of experience. The
authors suggest that to control the air pollution by planting
trees around the industry and also need to use water sprayers
to reduce the dust and fumes within the campus. The study
also suggests that there is a need to provide a different
insurance scheme to the employees covering accident prone
operational activities in the organization. The firm also has to
provide gloves and mask to the employees for protecting their
health.
REFERENCES
[1]. Prabu, A, A Study on Labour Welfare Measures in Salem Co-operative
Sugar Mills Limited in Mohanur, Nammakal District. Salem:
Shodhganga A Reservoir of Indian Thesis, 2014.
[2]. Kadam, D. S., & Thakar, H. M, A Study of Health and Safety Measures
With Reference To Selected Co-operative Sugar Factories, Indian
Journal of Research in Management, Business and Social Sciences,
Volume 2, Issue 1, Pp. 117-121, 2014.
[3]. Logasakthi, & Rajagopal, A study on Employee Health, Safety and
Welfare Measures of chemical industry in the view of Salem region,
International Journal of Reseaarch in Business Management , Volume 1
, Issue 1, Pp. 01-10, 2013.
[4]. Prabakar, S, Employees satisfaction & Welfare Measures A Case Study
With Special Reference to Don Bosco College of Arts & Science ,
Sogathur, Dharmapuri, Asia Pacific Journal of Research, Volume 3 ,
Issue 10, Pp. 01-10, 2013.
[5]. Sulaiman, J., & Alaguthankamani, M, A Study on Employee's
Satisfaction and Safety Measures (With Special Reference to two
Wheeler Spare Parts Manufacturing Industry in Chennai),Indian
Journal of Applied Research, Volume 3, Issue 3, Pp. 41-43, 2013.
[6]. Dwomoh, G., Owusu, E. E., & Addo, M, Impact of occupational health
and safety policies on employees performance in the Ghanas timber
industry: Evidence from Lumber and Logs Limited. International
Journal of Education and Research , Volume 1, Issue 12, Pp. 01-14,
2013.
[7]. Ramanigopal, C. S., & Palaniappan, G, Effectiveness of Health Safety
Measures Towards Employees of Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited,
International Journal of Research in Economics & Social Science ,
Volume 2 , Issue 6, Pp. 01-12, 2012.
[8]. Agbola , Impact of Health and Safety Management on Employee Safety
at the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority, journal of atmosphere,
Volume 2, Issue 9, Pp. 156-166, 2012.
[9]. Fleming, M., Assessing Employee Safety Motivation. Richmond: The
Workers Compensation Board of B.C., 2012.
Dr.G. Yoganandan is Assistant Professor, Department
of Management Studies, K.S.R College of Arts and
Science (Autonomous), Tiruchengode. He has 2 years
of industrial experience and 13 years of teaching
experience. He has presented 26 research papers in
international and national seminars, contributed book
chapters to 3 edited books and published two books on
banking and human resource management, 25 research
articles in international and national journals of repute.
He is also a regular guest speaker for various forums and management
associations.

ISSN 2277 - 5048 | 2015 Bonfring

Mr.G. Sivasamy is research scholar in Management

Studies department, K.S.R College of Arts and Science
(Autonomous), Tiruchengode. He has published an
article in international journal and presented around 5
research papers in national and international seminars.