Management Perceptions of the Occupational Health and Safety System in a Steel Manufacturing Firm

Abstract

This study focuses on evaluating management’s perception of the occupational health and safety system used within the steel manufacturing firm. It investigates how management perceives their role as managers, how management interprets and enacts their role as managers and how this in turn impacts on occupational health and safety in the workplace. Management should be contributing to the improvement of workplace health and safety within the steel manufacturing firm. However, managers each have a different interpretation of the purpose, which influences the way they perceive their role in workplace health and safety. Management’s commitment and compliance with health and safety will be evaluated in order to examine the health and safety standards in this workplace. Quantitative data was collected using questionnaires. The random sampling technique was used with a sample size of 55 participants. These participants were sub grouped into different categories such as senior managers, line mangers, safety health and environmental officer, laboratory management, health and safety representatives, artisans, and machine operators. The findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between management’s perceptions and safety in the workplace. It was found that the human factor (behaviour) can have a huge impact on safety performance within the plant.