This paper investigates the nature of the relationship between safety practices and the productivity of employees in manufacturing firms. Three hypotheses were formulated and questionnaire was designed. Copies of the questionnaire were distributed to three hundred and thirty respondents cutting across ten sampled manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt. Two hundred and ninety two copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and used for the analysis. The study revealed that there is positive and significant relationship between the provision of adequate safety equipments and the work output of employees; There is a significant relationship between legal institutional safety policies and the production outputs of employees; There is a significant relationship between employer’s compliance to safety rule and man hour put in by employees in the production process. This findings implies that safety in the work place significantly affects the effort put in by the workers in the production process and therefore provide evidence for the claims of Curry et al (2004), Haddel and Ojikutu (1989), Iwundu (1986) and Eninger (1983). The study recommend that: qualified safety officers should be employed to manage the safety challenges facing the organizations in their business operations; employees should be sent on regular and seasoned training courses on safety management so that they can appreciate the need for safety precautions; the safety policies of business organizations must be effectively implemented and adhered to at all time.
Keywords: Productivity, Safety Practices
