Safety House: A developed Framework to Improve Safety Performance among Highly Risky Industries

Abstract

The concept and importance of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSM) have extensively been discussed in previous literature. This study, however, focuses on reviewing and addressing gaps in some well-known industry-accepted OHSMS models developed between the periods 1990 – 2018 to design a new OHSM framework known as the “Safety House” that addresses all significant gaps in previous models. The findings of this study show that most previous models have either ignored safety leadership or safety commitment as one of the most pivotal elements that can improve the effectiveness of OHSMS and promote workplace safety. The concept of integration and relationships among all previous models was not clearly established. The innovation of this study highlighted the importance of integrating safety leadership and safety commitment into all phases of continuous OHSMS models. The study as well addresses the issue of employees’ involvement in safety planning before and after implementation of OHSMS. This is an initiation that has not benefitted the needed attention in almost all previous safety models.