Prioritising the safety management elements. A hierarchical analysis for manufacturing enterprises
| Date | 01 July 2006 |
| Published date | 01 July 2006 |
| Pages | 778-792 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/02635570610671470 |
| Author | W.K. Law,A.H.S. Chan,K.F. Pun |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
Prioritising the safety
management elements
A hierarchical analysis for manufacturing
enterprises
W.K. Law and A.H.S. Chan
Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management,
City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong,
People’s Republic of China, and
K.F. Pun
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, West Indies
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a hierarchy decision model for assessing the
priority of safety management elements in manufacturing enterprises with reference to three major
industries (i.e. textile and clothing, electronics, and printing and publishing) in Hong Kong. The
identification of core decision criteria and safety management elements were addressed with respect to
the effective implementation of safety management systems (SMS) in manufacturing enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach – Empirical data were acquired via a conduct of personal
interviews with evaluators (i.e. safety personnel, experts and professionals) in industry. Using the
analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology, a list of seven decision criteria and 13 safety
management elements were identified and their relative importance were evaluated.
Findings – It was found that the top three criteria for SMS implementation were “client requirement”
“insurance company requirement” and “employee requirement”. Both “safety organisation” and
“safety policy” were the most important safe management elements. Besides, evaluators put greater
concerns on “safe person” elements than “safe place” elements. Incorporating the AHP findings, a
self-regulatory approach to implementing safety management elements was proposed.
Research limitations/implications – The hierarchy decision model would enable manufacturing
enterprises to focus their resources on the critical elements at a time, to improve the effectiveness of
SMS implementation. Future study could validate the applicability of the model and the self-regulatory
approach in large enterprises and small to medium-sized enterprises, separately and collectively.
Practical implications – Using the AHP methodology, safety personnel could evaluate the relative
importance of decision criteria and safety management elements with respect to the corporate goals,
resources and constraints of their respective organisations.
Originality/value – The hierarchy decision mod el presented would enab le manufacturing
enterprises to determine the relative importance of decision criteria and safety management
elements and to establish viable strategies for SMS implementation.
Keywords Analyticalhierarchyprocess, Decision making,Health and safety, Manufacturingindustries,
Hong Kong
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Nowadays, safety and health protection has become a major positive factor in favour of
economic growth and productivity (Abdul Raouf, 2004; Hawkins and Booth, 1998; ILO,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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IMDS
106,6
778
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 106 No. 6, 2006
pp. 778-792
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/02635570610671470
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