Effect of Occupational Health and Safety Management System implementation on compliance with safety requirements in a logistics support organization Article

Abstract

Previous research regarding measuring the effectiveness of safety programs has relied on reactive/lagging indicator approaches that include addressing adverse outcomes such as personnel injury. Several Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) standards require organizations to determine an appropriate OHSMS measurement frequency but it is unknown which effectiveness indicators should be measured and the assessment frequency that is needed to realize positive change in the safety program. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of leading indicator measurement on self-reported OHSMS implementation.  Additionally, determine the leading indicator self-assessment frequency that leads to measurable OHSMS improvements.  The current investigation was a longitudinal study design of OHSMS implementation self-assessment information compiled monthly from August 2021 – November 2022 for 15 subordinate units of a logistics support organization.  Repeated measures analysis of variance and post hoc comparisons were conducted to determine which months were significantly different and to determine the length of time necessary to realize OHSMS improvement.  Overall OHSMS score ranged from 71.2%­­­­­­–82.7%. There were significant OHSMS improvements between the first month and the final 1–2 months of monitoring. It took 8–9 months to realize significant improvements of 6%. Improvement in OHSMS compliance was observed but monthly self-assessments were too short a period to reveal significant improvement.  Measuring leading indicators is useful to: assess OHSMS implementation, observe OHSMS changes, and monitor OHSMS continuous program improvement.