Factors that influence the maintenance and improvement of OHSAS 18001 in adopting companies: A qualitative study

Abstract

Many organizations are adapting to the requirements of occupational health and safety management systems worldwide. Despite the considerable acceptance of the systems for managing occupational health and safety in organizations, there is still no clear consensus on their effectiveness. The present study aimed to identify potential areas for improvements based on the experience and perception of the managers who worked in companies that are adopting the occupational health and safety assessment series 18001 standard in Iran. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the managers. A qualitative study design using a grounded theory approach was used to analyze the gathered data. Eleven categories emerged to explain the influencing factors that hinder or facilitate the effectiveness of the standard in the companies: (1) management commitment; (2) safety communication; (3) employee involvement; (4) integration; (5) training; (6) safety culture; (7) internal incentives; (8) enforcement; (9) occupational health and safety authority' support, (10) auditing, and (11) external incentives. Moreover, a conceptual model was developed based on the categories. The commitment of the senior managers to safety and their support of the system in practice can facilitate the improvement of the adaptation to the standard in the companies. Conducting efforts to train employees about occupational health and safety and to involve them in the practices required by the standard can help the companies in creating a positive safety culture. The development of a new inspection program with more enforcement on occupational health and safety legislation by the authorities would help the companies to adopt the requirements of the legislation. The application of an enforced policy by accreditation bodies to check the third-party auditing process could also increase the quality of auditing and help to improve the effectiveness of their systems to achieve a better occupational health and safety performance.

Diagnosis of poor safety culture as a major shortcoming in OHSAS 18001-certified companies

“…The finding is consistent to the outputs of prior studies29, 53 ) , which found lacking of safety training for managers and employees in manufacturing companies. The collected evidence (see Table 3) demonstrates that the safety training administered using inappropriate methods, and the companies provided it for a limited number of employees.…”

“…This finding is consistenet with the results of an earlier study, which showed that the lack of management commitment to safety was a main barrier to the effectiveness of OHSAS 18001 in the companies53 ) . The commitment of the senior manager of an OHSAS 18001-adopting company impacts the commitment of employees, and it is a crucial factor to create a positive safety culture and a successful OHSMS14 ) .…”

“…The weak situations might result from the failure of the companies to properly implement and maintain essential arrangements and actions required by the OHSAS 18001 standard to develop a high-quality OHSMS. Since an effective OHSMS in an organization results from the combination of the mechanical implementation of the system and a positive safety culture52 ) and the existence of safety culture deficiencies is an obstacle to the effectiveness of OHSAS 1800153 ) , the mechanical implementation of the requirements of the OHSAS 18001 standard is not enough to achieve a better OHS performance. The establishment of a positive safety culture is a primary objective of an OHSMS, which can identify and correct safety related problems prior to the occurrence of an accident43 ) .…”

Analysis of the relationship between the adoption of the OHSAS 18001 and business performance in different organizational contexts

“…First, the prioritization of safety practices creates a safer working environment, which fulfils the workers' safety needs and allows them to pursue operational goals (Das et al, 2008;Ghahramani, 2016). Second, the OHSAS 18001 can contribute to decrease operational costs through the timely documentation of safety risks and the implementation of corrective actions whenever a safety incident occurs.…”

“…Therefore, we hypothesize: We now turn our attention to the relationship between accumulated OHSAS experience and performance. Organizations adopt or develop managerial practices-including safety management systems-seeking to reduce inefficiencies through continuous enhancement of internal practices (Abad et al, 2013;Ghahramani, 2016). The effective implementation of the OHSAS 18001 does not result solely from managerial decision-making processes.…”