Comparative Analysis of HSE Policy Compliances in Public and Private Organisations in Portharcourt, Rivers State of Nigeria

Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) compliance is a crucial but still topical issue of workplace regulation in the industrial centre of Nigeria. In this policy analysis, the study focused on the execution of national policies governing HSE in both public and private organisations in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. Port Harcourt is a large city in Niger Delta, which has large concentrations of oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and healthcare services. The paper adopted Policy Triangle framework and implementation theory as a complementary theory to chart out the content, context, process, and actors that shape compliance outcomes in different sectors. Results indicate that there is a significant public—private compliance hierarchy. The formal and substantive compliance by the private organisations, especially the multinational oil and gas operators and the larger local enterprises, are significantly higher due to the availability of resources, international regulations (e.g., ISO 45001), reputation risks, and other internal accountability-related procedures. Public institutions such as state ministries, tertiary institutions, teaching hospitals and local government bodies are characterised by highly symbolic compliance, crippled by chronic under-investments, bureaucracy, and poor enforcement, as well as the limited presence of actors. The major gaps are the lack of PPE provision, lack of frequent risk evaluation, poor incident reporting, and regulatory fragmentation between the NESREA, NUPRC/NMDPRA and state agencies. The analysis attributes these differences to structural, political, and economic factors. Unstable financial frameworks and incompatible interests are detrimental to the government entities, whereas international corporations enjoy the advantages of international publicity and funding. The lack of compliance of the subcontractors and the infrequent regulatory capture also make the situation more difficult in the private sector. The paper concludes that addressing the compliance gap requires a focus on specific reforms like sector-based guidelines, Rivers State HSE Development Fund, performance-based incentives, and online incident-reporting, empowering enforcement task forces, and legislative harmonisation to eliminate overlapping mandate. These recommendations offer a practical route to improved safety at the workplace, environmental integrity and sustainable development objectives in one of the industrial regions with the highest number of risks in Nigeria.