The Role of Occupational Safety and Health Management System on Sport Development in South-West Universities, Nigeria
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Abstract
The safety and wellbeing of sportsmen of school age group has being an increasing worry for parents, guardians, school's management, public, government and sport administrators. The possibility of building patriotic men and women that may enhance the development of Nigerian sporting sector without considering their safety, wellbeing and strategy for the management of sport associated risks may be slim. Occupational Health and Safety Management System is currently a multidisciplinary field the global community is seriously promoting due to its usefulness, though, with some noted implementation challenges in the educational and sporting sector. Therefore, this paper investigated the role of Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) on sport development in Nigerian universities. The study was focused on establishment of documented OSHMS in selected universities, appraised the risk assessed, incidents reports from sports-based activities as well as investigation process, post incident risk management plans, sportsmen awareness and motivational indices. The study was based on primary and secondary data with primary data obtained by means of survey on the stakeholders within the selected universities sport centres and facilities while the secondary data were from the documented records from the sport units of the institutions. Making use of a research review and an extensive interviewing programme, the paper draws several conclusions. The findings established that OHSMS documentation is lacking in all the universities and there were no evidence of risk assessment register covering sport risks, neither were there structured record of sports incident reports and post-incident insurance coverage. The result from the study revealed that establishment of OSHMS and suitable sport risk management insurance by the universities could improve participation of more sports enthusiasts that may possibly result in the development Nigerian sporting sector. Hence recommendations were proffered.