Occupational Health and Safety Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Automobile Garages in Kampala Capital City

Abstract

Globally, the protection of workers against occupation-associated hazards and morbidities has been a significant public health concern. Particularly, Uganda’s informal automotive sector is still facing fundamental challenges in OSH compliance. Workers in automobile repair garages are continuously exposed to high-risk environments during repair activities with minimal occupational health and safety regulations. This study therefore assessed the occupational health and safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices of workers in automobile garages across Kampala Capital City. Exploratory and descriptive survey tools were utilized involving structured interviews, direct job process observations, and compliance checklists across 20 selected automotive garages in Kampala capital city. The 20 automobile garages were then stratified into four main classes, A, B, C, and D, based on OSH performance level compared with the Process Policy Compliance Index (PPCI) and risk assessment matrix applied to quantitatively evaluate compliance levels and hazard severity. Process Policy Compliance Index measurement, SWOT analysis, comparative analysis, and risk assessment methods were jointly used to evaluate OSH in automobile garages. The results revealed significant disparities in compliance levels in OSH across all the automobile garage classes in Kampala capital city. However, class A garages had the highest level of compliance, with an average PPCI scores of 95%. This was mostly attributed to strong management commitment, employee involvement, high OSH knowledge, very strong enforcement and available resources fostered towards occupational health and safety. Class B garages had a moderate compliance score of 75%. In contrast, class C and D garages representing average score of 33% and 12% of the total sample of automobile garages recorded very weak compliance in occupational health and safety, with low PPCI scores ranging from 0.12 to 0.7. These critical gaps were directly attributed to inadequate safety training, with over 70% not attending OSH training; low PPE usage; lack of emergency preparedness; low enforcement of safety protocols; and over 75% of class C and D garages lacked structured safety control strategies. To address these gaps, a contextualized OSH framework was developed to standardize risk assessment, training, compliance monitoring, and policy implementation across all automobile garage classes. Furthermore, strengthening regulatory enforcement, institutionalizing periodic OSH training, establishing mentorship programs between compliant and non-compliant garages, and improving infrastructure and signage will be vital in reducing occupational risks.