Health and safety management systems through a multilevel and strategic management perspective: Theoretical and empirical considerations

•Multilevel and management theories are applied to H&S management systems (HSMS).•Construct validity issues related to the empirical study of HSMS are highlighted.•This application illuminates contingencies important to the success of HSMS efforts.•These contingencies are discussed and presented in an HSMS conceptual model.

Multilevel and strategic management theory and research methods are presented and applied to current issues in occupational health and safety (H&S), the primary goal being to better understand health and safety management systems (HSMS) from a theoretical and empirical perspective. Through these perspectives, a strategic HSMS may be understood as a construct that exists objectively at the strategic level of the organization—its objective content often distinct from the implemented practices and procedures within a workgroup and from worker perceptions and interpretations of its content. These nuances highlight the types of biases that can arise when choosing a level of measurement to assess the HSMS and techniques that can be used to minimize measurement error and increase the validity of inferences made. These nuances also illuminate the contingencies important for the success of a strategic organizational HSMS. The contingencies are discussed from a theoretical perspective and presented in a conceptual HSMS model.