1. Regulations
Under pressure of accelerating
change, regulations have evolved from detailed, perspective provisions and
standards to more general requirements and obligations. Deregulation replaces
the responsibility on the company management to develop their own performance
indicators and to improve their management systems. This shift gives satisfying
results for large companies who have the means to develop appropriate
programmes, management tools, training etc. Another inconvenience is the
difficulty for small industry to cope with this new type of regulation.
They
often do not have the required resources, in terms of knowledge, time or
financial means to develop adequate instruments. Specific support systems need
to be developed, taking into account the size of these companies. The
difficulty in elaborating these support instruments is that the experts in
charge do not always speak the language of the target group. Though new regulations
can help smaller industries to cope with safety and health issues, for example,
the use of safety and health services that have to offer a certain (legally
determined) quality of service to such industry. This type of procedure can
bring expertise and practical solutions to the industry.
2. Management commitment
Successful accident prevention consists of strong management
commitment, Good employee involvement and a well-structured management.
The management review is an opportunity to look
forward to changes in business, structure, development of new products, the
introduction of new technology or the introduction of new legislation.
Indeed, the established system for safety management
includes hazard identification, risk assessment, implementation of prevention
measure, monitoring and review. Therefore within this circle, continuous
learning from industrial accidents and incidents is crucial, but often
overlooked. If there are no records, there is no pressure for improvements. If
there are no proper investigations, there is no learning from accidents and the
continuous improvement cycle is broken.
3. Globalization:
Cooperation is sought through
networking in order to maximize the benefits of the means deployed.
Multinationals are in a position to export good practices established in one
part of their operations to their operations in other countries or to set
common safety standards to be met in all
of their operations. Similarly, they may specify safety requirements for their
procurement and contracting activities throughout the company. Particular
safety problems solved by one branch can also be communicated to other
branches.
Indeed, the consequences of globalization
are usually mixed. Operating on a world scale can mean that industries have
little morale or economic responsibility to countries where they choose to site
production and yet these industries influence casts along shadow. Globalization
also offers a potential platform for industrial accident prevention. The
current trend seems to be that expert better corporate employee from global
corporations than from local ones.
4. Quality of supervision
Corporate leaders that lack
effective communication skills can be toxic to a business. Managers that don’t
encourage open communication in the office never offer performance-related field
back to their subordinates and don’t value diversity in the works place garner
little respect from employees as their job satisfaction level drops.
5. Quality of work Environment
The office has truly become a home
away from home for many employees and the quality of the work environment can
either help inspire employees to perform at their optimal performance levels or
cause them to look for another employer as they count the minutes of everyday
until quitting time. An unsafe environment can wreak havoc on morale because
employees may eventually feel that their employer doesn’t care enough about
them to ensure their safety. Meanwhile, a safe, visually appealing and well-lit
environment can allow employees to focus
exclusively on performance without constantly worrying about how an industrial
accident might boost their health care costs.
6. Quality of Incentives
While the promise of making more
money can be an obvious morale boaster, several studies have shown that the
existence of other non-monetary workplace perks can help boast job
satisfaction.
7. Safety Ethics: Safety ethics can be sub-divided
into;
(i) Company Values;
A good safety culture is a work
environment where all members of the organization share a high safety ethic.
Either fatalism or production-first thinking provokes the negligence of hazards
in a bad safety culture. Top management commitment is essential to promote a
safety culture. Companies that embrace social values and act conscientiously
according to their mission statement seem to generate a positive mentality and
significant involvement on the part of their employees. A coherent policy
starting with a mission statement and realized through concrete incentives,
programmes and actions within and outside the company can mobilize employee
commitment. This influences, in a positive way, the safety culture as a whole
and even the individual risk behaviour of the employees.
(ii) Community approach:
Safety efforts in society are
usually organized separately according to life’s time segments. Examples, work
leisure, home and traffic. Yet the national and local safety culture affects
all the segments.
The idea of a community approach is
to change the mentality of the entire community in various accident protection
sectors. It should not only be limited to the professional environment but also
broadened to private life, domestic life, leisure activities and education at
school in order to improve attitudes to safety.