Ensuring Health and Safety in Technical-Vocational Education: An Evaluation of First Aid Preparedness and Safety Practices in Cookery Laboratories

It is imperative to provide health and safety among technical-vocational learners, especially those in cookery laboratories who are prone to occupational hazards that arise from the preparation of food and the utilization of kitchen equipment and gadgets. Although safety measures have been developed in schools, there is still a need to assess students' first aid preparedness and safety practices to know if they are ready to handle any emergency that may occur within the laboratory. Little information about the correlation between first aid preparedness and safety practices among cookery learners makes it necessary to carry out further studies.This study sought to assess the degree of first aid preparedness and safety practices among cookery learners in a public secondary school. It also assessed the differences between the degree of preparedness and safety practices according to selected demographic characteristics as well as the relationship between first aid preparedness and safety practices.From the findings, it was evident that the respondents were highly prepared in terms of first aid and practiced safety measures in laboratory. The results also indicated that there were no significant differences between the demographics in terms of the preparedness of respondents and their safety measures. Finally, there was a positive, though insignificant, correlation between preparedness and safety practices in the laboratory.Even though the respondents are well prepared for emergencies and have been practicing safety in laboratory, first aid training and more emergency preparedness exercises, coupled with increased safety education programs, are vital in promoting safety measures.