AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AND ITS INFLUENCE ON USAGE: THE CASE OF SOME COMPANIES IN BAMENDA MUNICIPALITY

Many companies nowadays focus only on output without thinking of the welfare of the workers, and some workers do not also think of their safety at the workplace. The study sought to investigate awareness of the importance of personal protective equipment and its influence on usage. The case of some companies in the Bamenda Municipality. The survey research design was used and a total sample size of 120 was recruited for the study that is 75 workers from Edge and 45 from SOTRASEFI companies. The purposive and accidental sampling techniques were used in order to enable the researcher met up with the population of interest. The questionnaire and an observational check list were used to collect data from the field, and inferential statistical methods were used to interpret the data, while the inferential statistical technique with the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 were used to verify the hypotheses. Graphs, bar and pie charts were used to present data collected from the field. From the hypotheses of the study, the results proved that awareness of PPE influences its usage with a statistical significance of 0.003 which is less than 0.051. To ensure effective use of PPEs, recommendations have thus been made to the workers, management of companies and to the government, one of which is that the government should see that management of companies provide good and quality PPEs as well as regularly train their workers on how to use them.