A study on the impact of management system certification on safety management

This study presents an empirical investigation of the influence of management system certification on the relationship between safety management and safety performance in major accident hazard chemical industry. The perceptions of employees about six important safety management practices and self-reported safety behaviour are measured with the help of a questionnaire survey administered in eight chemical companies in the state of Kerala in India. One thousand five hundred and sixty six workers participated in the survey with a response rate of 72%. The validity and reliability of the scales are found acceptable. Analysis of the data revealed that employees in companies with OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001 and no certification at all perceive different levels of the above safety variables in them and those in OHSAS 18001 organizations are significantly higher compared with the others. Step-wise regression analysis revealed that four out of six safety management practices predicted safety behaviour in OHSAS 18001 certified organization and three safety management practices were found to predict safety behaviour in the other two groups. But, safety rules and procedures (SR) emerged as a common predictor of safety behaviour in all the three models. This study emphasizes the need for OHSAS 18001 certification to reduce the accidents and thereby to reduce liability and improve productivity and safety and health of employees.

Research highlights
► Safety management in organizations with OHSAS 18001, ISO 9001 and no certification are compared.
► OHSAS 18001 certified organizations are found to have better safety management systems.
► Those with no certifications practice traditional safety management without success.
► “Enforcement of safety rules and procedures” is found to be the common predictor.