Causal attributions of Ghanaian industrial workers for accident occurrence: miners and non-miners perspective.

PROBLEM

Reports from the accident literature indicate that accident rates tend to vary with type of occupation. The mining industry has been recorded as the most dangerous with a high disabling injury rate. This observation has been attributed to the extremely stressful conditions under which miners work. Besides, the intimidating work environment in the mines has been insinuated to invoke a sense of helplessness, fatalism and hence defensive causal attributions for accident occurrences.

METHOD

This study compared causal attributions between accident victims in Ghana's mining industry with their counterparts in textile factories. T values and Chi-square were employed to test for statistically significant differences between the two groups of accident victims.

RESULTS

Findings indicate that there is no difference between the causal attributions for miners and non-miners.

IMPACT ON INDUSTRY

Accident frequency and occupational type have no impact on causal attributions.