Workshop Safety Skills Required by Students of Electrical Installation and Maintenance Works for Improved Workmanship

Abstract

Wrong handling of tools and equipment in the college workshop could cause accident and damages to the tools and equipment being used. Therefore, there is need to ascertain workshop safety skills required by technical college students, including electrical installation and maintenance works students in handling tools and equipment in technical colleges in Edo State, Nigeria. Three specific purposes were determined and three research questions guided the study. One null hypothesis was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significant. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 64 technical teachers currently serving in the four technical colleges offering electrical installation and maintenance works in Edo State. The entire population was used as the sample size because it was manageable, hence a census.  A four-point modified scale structured questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts from the Faculty of Vocational and Technical Education, University of Benin and it has a reliability coefficient of 0.72. Mean, standard deviation and Z-test were the statistical tools used for data analysis. Analysis of data revealed that electrical installation students require safety skills for handling electrical installation hand tools, machine tools and skills for working in the electrical workshop environment. It was concluded that electrical installation students require workshop safety skills to prevent workshop accident thereby improving workmanship within and outside the college workshop. It was recommended, among others, that electrical installation teachers should continue to teach and make students to be acquainted with workshop safety skills to prevent workshop accident and damages to tools and equipment.

Keywords: Workshop; Skills; Electrical Installation; Technical College and Improved Workmanship.