TYPOLOGY, CAUSATIVE FACTORS AND PREVENTIVE STRATEGIES OF ACCIDENT IN TECHNICAL COLLEGE WORKSHOPS IN KWARA AND KOGI STATES
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Background to the Study
The fundamental emphasis of technical and vocational education programme is skills development. Technical education borders on acquisition of knowledge and skills in trades like woodwork, metalwork, electrical installations, electronics, block/bricklaying and concreting, welding and fabrication, fitting and machining and auto-mechanics. Other trades are carpentry and furniture crafts, painting and decorating; and plumbing works. The skills are necessary for employment and help workers to update and upgrade their job performance so as to retain their jobs in both the private and public sectors of the economy. Such skills include fitting, machining, milling, jointing and cutting skill among others. This is consistent with the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2013), which provides that one of the prime objectives of vocational and technical education is to give training and impart the necessary skills leading to the production of craftsmen, technicians and skilled personnel who will be enterprising and selfreliant. Ogalanya (2000) stated that technology education helps to provide adequate skills, knowledge and practical experiences to individuals with a wide range of abilities. On the other hand, Yayirus (2003) observed that practical skills are not just acquired in the open field; rather they are developed in the workshops or 2 laboratories replete with appropriate tools, equipment and other necessary facilities. Ogwa (2009) reported that skills acquisition is most successful when adequate practical work is employed in the implementation of technical and vocational training. That is to say, to give training and impart the required skills to people; tools and equipment must be utilized. Nwankwo (2011) affirmed that the availability of various machine tools, even the most up-to-date ones, in sufficient quantities does not itself ensure efficient and highly productive operation of an industrial enterprise without the appropriate use of those machine tools and equipment. The utilization of workshop facilities like tools, equipment, safety devices, consumable and non-consumable materials are of paramount importance to teaching and learning in vocational and technical education for the development of practical skills of the students. Odu (2011) stated that hand tools, machines and instructional material facilities may be available in abundance but without well trained technical teachers to manage these facilities, learning cannot take place. Technical teachers consist of trained teachers in different areas of technology such as electrical/electronic, building, woodwork, plumbing, carpentry and joinery, auto mechanics and metalwork. Technical teachers, males and females alike, are those that give the training and transmit the facts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and to the learners within the instructional system and as may be applied to the world of work. Some 3 of the technical teachers in Kwara and Kogi States are old on the job and are experienced having spent more than six years, while some of them are young on the job with less than six years teaching experience. For anybody to assume the duty of a technical teacher, such a person is expected to possess the needed competencies for imparting technical knowledge and skills, especially when a desirable emphasis is on competency-based learning (Davies, 2001). According to Ekpenyong (2008), technical teachers must be versatile in their areas of specialization and in science education courses as well as in workshop organization and management. Technical teachers transmit the relevant practical skills by demonstrating before the students the tasks to be performed, while the students in turn are expected to acquire the skills by practising the skills in a workshop as soon as the demonstration is over. The workshop is where the interactions take place. Okorie (2001) explained that technical college workshop is a place where the learner may experiment, test, construct, dismantle, repair, design, create, imagine, and study. Going by this, a workshop is an essential facility for the study and practice of technical and vocational education. Normally, the workshops should be equipped with tools, machines and raw materials similar to those in the industrial workshops. Umunadi (2010) indicated that technical college workshops should have the same equipment, tools and materials in terms of types, designs, and specifications with 4 the industry where the students will eventually work after training. Workshops are expected to be equipped with a variety of tools and machines that range from simple hand-operated machines to complex computer-controlled machines capable of great precision for teaching and learning processes. Technical college equipment include lathe machines, shaping machines, rolling machines, drilling machines, cutting machines, welding machines, circular saw, guillotine and various hand tools such as hacksaws, files, pincers, pliers, drills, soldering iron, and spanners that are required for imparting practical knowledge and skills to the students. Workshops also contain a wide variety of toxics, inflammables, corrosive or reactive compounds such as sulphuric acids and oxyacetylene. In the process of trying to use these machines and materials, accident could occur; therefore workshop users (both technical personnel and students) are prone to accidents. It is stated in the National Policy on Education (FRN, 2013) that the Federal government of Nigeria has adopted education as an instrument of effecting national development. This was the desire behind the establishment of technical colleges in both urban and rural areas. The idea therefore is aimed at bringing education to the door post of all Nigerians. The system seems to have contributed immensely towards balancing educational between the urban and rural dwellers. However, the types of equipment and tools avoidable in the urban and rural workshops could 5 vary in accordance with the environment. Perhaps what is not clear yet is the effect of localization of technical college workshops in these areas. In human settlements urban stands for an area that is characterized by human population and vast human built-up infrastructures while rural areas have a low population and small settlement with scanty infrastructures. Health, education, employment, and development facilities are thousands times better in urban as compared to rural areas. This wholesome situation seems to have not attracted qualified teachers from working in rural areas. Obasi (2011) reported that urban schools have more concentration of qualified graduate teachers; students of the same subjects in rural schools are compelled to make do with either unqualified teachers or none at all. Perhaps the differences in opportunities offered for imparting and acquiring of skills in both urban and rural environment could affect workshop accidents Okeke and Oranu (2006) noted that wherever tools and machines are used, accidents will likely occur despite the best efforts. Similarly Uwaifo (2009) observed that it is an indisputable fact that wherever work is done with machines or hand tools, there is likelihood of accident occurring, causing injuries to people, damage to machines, tools and materials in such a workplace. Accident may be defined as an undesirable, unplanned, un-controlled event or a sudden miss-hap which interrupts an activity or function and could result in physical harm to 6 person(s) or damage to property or equipment. Kadiri (2006), and Okeke and Oranu (2006) variously reported that an accident may be the result of an unsafe act or unsafe condition. Unsafe acts are human factors that cause accidents, while unsafe conditions are environmental factors that cause accidents. These situations can be related, since an individual’s unsafe act can result in an unsafe condition for someone else. Kadiri (2006) defined an unsafe act as any act on the part of a person, which will increase the chances of having an accident. Kadiri further defined unsafe condition as that condition within the work environment which increases the worker’s chances of having an accident. Offonmbuk and Ekereobong (2012) reported that accidents are common in technical college workshops. This supported Olateju (2005) who revealed that accidents often occur in vocational and technical education workshops. Olateju listed such accidents to include electric-shock, cuts from sharp objects, eye injury, burns of various degrees, and fall from heights, slips, and fire incidence. There were instances where technical teachers and students were reported to be disabled as a result of workshop accidents. Typology of accidents is the systematic study and classification of types of accidents according to their characteristics and traits. Accidents interfere with lessons and decimate manpower and material resources; thus disorganizing the workshop activities. From economic view point, accidents are costly events which seriously hamper production. Often machineries 7 and equipment involved in an accident are damaged resulting in expensive cost for replacement or improvisation. Not only are repairs and replacements costly, the time taken for them to be effected is wasteful. This is a great burden to the school management. The effects of accident on its victims are even more serious than its effects on the economy. Not only does it affect the victim’s job, it affects the family and colleagues. It becomes more painful when the accident is obviously avoidable and the cause traced to someone’s laissez-faire attitude to safety or poor supervision. In order to prevent workshop accidents, safety instructions and safety devices are required. Olateju (2005) reported that students are often exposed to hazards when the necessary safety instructions to guide them during practical exercises are not observed. The author further stated that provision of safety devices in technical college workshops has been over-looked. Teachers often fail to demonstrate good safety practices and attitudes due to the fact that instructional aides such as safety posters, tips and films are not provided by the authorities concerned. Where they are available, the teacher may lack the knowledge to apply and administer the safety devices. Safety devices are devices such as fire extinguishers, first aid boxes, and hand gloves that help to secure the safety of anyone who is using workshop machines and equipment. Safety devices could also 8 be obstacles that prevent workers from entering or touching dangerous area of any system. Safety in a technical workshop is an art of inculcating the necessity of taking precautions for the avoidance or reduction of accidents in order to protect people/students and property. Safety is a relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm, injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether caused deliberately or by accident (Health and Safety Executive, 1982). It is the preventive measure taken by a person to preserve lives, properties and the environment against accidents. Accident prevention activities enable workers to perform to the peak of their ability, and ensure the safety of humans, machines and materials. The realities of globalization and technological advancement earnestly call for turning out skilled workers who can flexibly acquire, apply and transfer their knowledge to varying technological conditions (Ogwo, 2005). Occurrence of accidents in technical college workshop could hinder the achievement of this worthwhile objective. Hence, there is the need to determine the types of accidents, causative factors and strategies that could be adopted to prevent accidents in technical college workshops in Kwara and Kogi states.
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