Occupational health and safety management system conformity assessment: Development and evaluation of a universal assessment instrument.

Abstract

The monetary cost and human suffering associated with occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities continue to be serious concerns. Methods to augment traditional command-and-control regulatory approaches are being explored with the goal of reducing occupational health and safety (OHS) incidence rates. One such approach is the introduction of systems theory to create occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS), the increased use of which requires strategies for measuring their effectiveness. The objectives of this research project were to develop and evaluate an OHSMS assessment instrument with universal application, whereby determinations of OHSMS effectiveness can be made, and to propose an OHS conformity-assessment framework within which such an instrument may be used and third-party certification/registration performed. Four publicly-available OHSMS models were used to develop the instrument: (1) the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Program (VPP); (2) the British Standards Institute's BS 8800; (3) the American Industrial Hygiene Association's (AIHA) OHSMS; and, (4) the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) 14001. Four sets of decision rules were developed and followed to guide the input model partitioning and initial instrument development. Review of the instrument by a panel of OHS experts was performed using Delphi procedures. The instrument contains five organizing categories, 27 sections, 118 OHSMS principles, and 486 measurement criteria. Variables/operational definitions, in the form of questions, were developed for 10 percent of the measurement criteria. Pilot tests of the instrument were performed at three large organizations which had implemented an OHSMS. The pilot tests revealed that 88, 76, and 64 percent, respectively, of the principles, measurement criteria, and variables/operational definitions were relevant to the test sites. The results of these pilot tests and what was learned from administering them confirm that there is a need for a comprehensive OHSMS assessment instrument and that such an instrument is needed for the development of a rational system for third-party certification/registration and accreditation. The instrument developed in this research project meets these needs. Comparative evaluations of OHSMS models with a standard assessment instrument creates the potential for continual reductions in incidents of occupational injury, illness, and fatality.