Role of Health and Safety Management Practices in Safety Performance of Malaysian Bumiputera SMEs

Abstract

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.

Human Capital and Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: A Literature Review

“…Key challenges to employee health and wellbeing in SMEs include stress and its impact on mental and physical health, uncertainty due to organizational and social change, and work-life balance (Van Dick, 2023). Safety management practices play a role in improving the safety performance of Malaysian Bumiputera SMEs (Abdullah et al, 2022). Therefore, it can be concluded that prioritizing health and wellbeing in the workplace can contribute to the overall performance of SMEs.…”