Does a safety and health management system contribute to a safer work environment?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Biddle EA ; Hendricks S ; Newell S
• Description:
  Introduction: Managing occupational safety and health through management systems at the company level has become increasingly popular. However, little research has been conducted concerning the relationship between adopting a safety and health management system and the occupational injury and illness (OII) experience of an individual firm. This study examined the degree to which implementation of five key management system components contributed to a safer work environment. Methods: Participating Fortune 200 companies were solicited to complete a two-module web survey. Module one requested annual OII rates. Module two requested self-rating on a scale of 1 (worst) to 4 (best) of the relative degree of implementation or the "percentage of process in place and completed toward established targets" for the following management system components: Leadership Commitment and Support; Employee Involvement; Risk Identification and Elimination and Safe Practices; Accountability at All Levels; Continuous Improvements. Results: Of the 91 companies that provided annual OII data, 73 provided management system information. OII total case rates ranged from .29 to 9.2 (mean = 1.88) in 2005 and .15 to 10.05 (mean = 2.28) in 2004. Days away fRom, William N.ork (DAFW) case rates ranged from .02 to 2.07 (mean = .57) in 2005 and .08 to 2.96 (mean = .54) in 2004. The average score measuring the degree of management system implementation was 2.55, from 2.08 for Accountability to 2.82 in Continuous Improvements. System components were positively correlated with coefficients of .46 to .84. OLS regression indicated that implementing a management system reduced OII rates. Component pair analysis identified Leadership and Accountability as the best predictors for controlling OII, and Risk Identification as the best predictor for controlling DAFW cases. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that implementing a management system with these five components contributed to lower OII rates. Because the respondents are among the most safety-conscious global enterprises, the results may not be generalizable.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Carcinogens Digestive System Digestive System Diseases Energy Metabolism Laboratories Liver Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety Solvents

  More +
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Accident-statistics Accidents Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-accidents Occupational-exposure Occupational-hazards Occupational-health-programs Occupational-safety-programs Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Safety-research Statistical-analysis Surveillance Training Work-analysis Work-environment Work-operations Work-organization Work-performance Work-practices Worker-health Workplace-monitoring Workplace-studies

  More +
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Pennsylvania ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  H4.1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035766
• Citation:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Morgantown, WV: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2008 Oct; :H4.1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Construction
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NOIRS 2008-Abstracts of the National Occupational Injury Research Symposium, October 21-23, 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:250629a6f279a4691d41157175af1d2ae98965691f4ea7520f4a1a08cdf3399cf501119c8876f4845587ddae57868ffe683d3392e753aba1cbf411a28f09e5d6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181537/cdc_181537_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 577.24 KB ]