A Comparative Analysis of Safety Programs and Employee Productivity in Oil and Gas Versus Construction Industries in the Niger Delta Region

This study assesses the impact of safety programmes on employee productivity in selected Oil and Gas and Construction industries in the Niger Delta. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used, surveying 390 employees through structured questionnaire distributed online. Data analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS (version 26) and Xlstat (version 16), with reliability of constructs confirmed by Cronbach's alpha values between 0.630 and 0.916. Bartlett’s and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) tests established the suitability of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) explored the relationship between reward mechanisms for safety compliance across industries. The findings show that Management Commitment (MC) is highest in Oil and Gas (Multinational) companies (mean = 4.56), correlating with higher productivity (mean = 4.16), while Construction (Indigenous) companies score the lowest (mean = 3.49), with reduced productivity (mean = 4.05). Safety Participation (SP) and Safety Compliance (SC) are consistently strong across industries, particularly in Oil and Gas (Multinational), which also leads in Safety Promotional Policies (SPP) and Safety Training (ST), both linked to higher productivity. Safety Knowledge (SK) and Employee Involvement (EI) also show positive associations with productivity, especially in Multinational firms. In all, the study highlights that robust safety management practices, especially in Multinational Oil and Gas companies, significantly enhance employee productivity. Strengthening safety parameters like management commitment, compliance, and training is essential for improving productivity across industries. Given that the multinational companies in oil & gas and construction industries in Niger Delta are currently ahead of indigenous companies, it is recommended that indigenous companies should improve and invest in effective workplace safety programmes.