Health and Safety Practices of Dressmaking Apprenticeship Training Programmes: A Case of the Tamale Metropolis in the Northern Region

Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)  specifies that hazards exist in every workplace in many various forms; falling objects, sharp edges,  flying sparks, noise and a myriad of other potentially dangerous situations. The OSHA consequently requires that employers protect their employees from workplace hazards that can cause injury.  One area of concern related to occupational safety and health is dressmaking shops in the Tamale Metropolis, which has a cluster of sewing centres scattered all over. The training of dressmaking apprentices involves a wide number of health and safety hazards, some of which are apparent and others that are usually not noticed until it is too late. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the health and safety practices of dressmaking apprenticeship training programmes in the Tamale Metropolis of the Northern Region of Ghana and offer suggestions on how they can be managed. In order to adequately collect relevant data, observation checklists, as well as 156 questionnaires, were administered to dressmaking master crafts persons who train apprentices in the informal sector and belong to the Ghana Dressmakers and Tailors Association. Also, purposive sampling technique was employed to select one senior apprentice each from the 78 master craftsmen selected for the study. The results of the study portray a glum picture of the general working conditions of dressmaking shops in the Tamale metropolis as master craft persons generally failed to provide their apprentices with suitable ergonomic and appropriately designed psychosocial conditions for efficient performance of their tasks.

Keywords: Apprentices, health and safety practices, Tamale Metropolis