Influence of Occupational Accidents Moderated By Occupational Health and Safety Policy Regulations on Performance of Firms in Kenya

Performance in firms is an intricate affair and remains a major agenda in the corporate world. Researches have been carried out about factors that inform performance of firms, however the extent to which occupational accidents influence performance shaped by occupational health and safety policy regulations has received limited attention in the main stream firm researches. Occupational accidents in Kenya have witnessed an annual growth of 30% based on available statistics that continues to influence performance of firms negatively. The objective of this study was to establish the influence of occupational accidents on performance of firms in Kenya. The study was founded on two theories namely: Contingency theory and General Adaptation Syndrome theory. The study was anchored on Positivism and Interpretivism Paradigms realized by explanatory research design method. The target population was 2107 with a sample size of 414. Stratified, convenient and proportionate sampling techniques were used. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and partial least squares structural equation modeling aided by Warp PLS. v. 5 software. The findings showed that occupational accidents moderated by health and safety policy regulations to influence performance of firms at βeta coefficient of (β = -0.27, p = 0.020 < 0.05 Occupational health and safety policy regulation moderation effect was at β = -023, p = 0.04 < 0.05). The study recommends to the government and management of firms to incorporate occupational health and safety policy regulation in firms to mitigate occupational accidents hence influence performance of firms.