The impacts of safety on sustainable production performance in the chemical industry: A systematic review of literature and conceptual framework

Abstract

The chemical industry is a fundamental component of how countries function and, as such, can be both an enabler and inhibitor of sustainability. Given its importance, it is unsurprising that the sector has received increasing attention in the extant literature base in recent times, although less consideration has been given to the importance of safety in sustainable production and how this may challenge performance in the sector. The purpose of this paper is to close this gap and provide a comprehensive understanding of how safety challenges sustainable production performance. Using the systematic literature review methodology, 62 peer-reviewed articles were carefully selected, mapped, and assessed. Thematic analysis was performed to unravel the relationship mechanisms between safety performance and sustainable production performance, synthesised into five propositions. One of the important contributions of this work is the development of a conceptual framework that formalises the relationships between safety and sustainable production performance in the chemical industry. The framework can act a theoretical lens that subsequently enables future research in both safety and sustainability to be conducted in a more robust and credible manner.