Considerations of safety in the development of industrial services: Matter of course or matter of chance?

Abstract

Safety management during the delivery of industrial services has gained a great deal of attention in both research and practice. However, it remains unclear whether the consideration of safety at the service development stage is standard procedure or merely an occasional concern. This paper has approached this issue by reviewing the manner in which safety is addressed during development of industrial services. The research data were collected via interviews (n = 40) with personnel from four companies—three manufacturers and one service company providing industrial services. The data were content-analyzed using a thematic approach and structured coding. The results showed that although safety was managed efficiently during service delivery, best practices were not adopted during the development stage. Further, a lack of systematic service development practices hindered the consideration of safety during development projects. The adoption of a safety-oriented service development mindset may take time and effort in manufacturing companies that have a long goods-oriented history. This change requires the commitment of top management and enhancement of the safety knowledge of service development team members. Additionally, it is recommended that companies optimize their use of safety data in development decisions and identify the business-related benefits of safety-oriented service development.