Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are widely acknowledged as the backbone of the Malaysian economy. Therefore, it is very important that SMEs manage occupational health and safety adequately. The purpose of this paper is to investigate safety management practices and its associations with the safety performance in Malaysian Bumiputera SMEs. A safety management system reflects the organization's commitment to safety which will result in improved safety performance; thus, it is worth investigating. In particular, this study aims to determine the relationship of safety management practices (entrepreneur's commitment, safety training, worker's involvement in safety, safety communication, safety rules and procedures, and safety promotion policies) and safety performance (safety compliance and participation). In doing so, survey questions from previous studies are adopted and customized to collect data. The sample of 272 Bumiputera SME entrepreneurs is utilized, and the data are analysed using SPSS version 27. The results of the study reveal that safety management practice facets i.e., safety rules and procedures, safety communication, and entrepreneur commitment significantly influence safety performance. While safety promotion, worker involvement and safety training are not useful to the prediction of safety performance. This enables practitioners and scholars to comprehend and make appropriate decisions that can enhance safety performance among Bumiputera SME entrepreneurs in Malaysia.
The aim of this study is to identify safety performance practices affecting safety performance of Bumiputera SMEs and to develop a conceptual framework explaining the relationship of health and safety management among Bumiputera small and medium enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The study brings understanding on health and safety management and broader safety performance issues within Malaysia context by analysing the comprehensive literature. SMEs are in dire needs to implement health and safety management properly as it is estimated around 60% of workplace accidents that occurred are accounted to SME. Bumiputera SMEs can rely on health and safety management practices such as entrepreneur's commitment, safety training, worker's involvement in safety, safety communication, safety rules and procedures, and safety promotion policies to increase safety performance in the organization. A safety management system reflects the organization's commitment to safety which will result in improved safety performance; thus, it is worth investigating. This study reveals that there is a need for further research to discover new insights on health and safety management and enhance safety performance among Bumiputera SME entrepreneurs in Malaysia.
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