NYC Injury Headlines

Reducing Accident Rates with Organizational Performance Management

Safety professionals know a lot of safety and health, but do they know enough on how to achieve a change in practice. This difficult question is considered here on the basis of two intervention studies which were carried out in the shipbuilding industry and in the metal product industry. The goal of both projects was to launch an improvement process leading to a better work environment and safety, as well as to more efficient production. The cooperation partners represented industries in which the accident rate is above the national average in Finland. The action research approach combining research and practice and organizational performance management was utilized in the studies. The project at the shipyard was started in three departments at the beginning of 1995. In 1996 when the project was reported, it involved more than 10 departments (over 900 employees). The project in the metal product factory involved one department (about 200 employees) and was carried out in 1996. In the beginning of the projects, a questionnaire survey provided the personnel the opportunity to participate, to report problems they had identified, and to make suggestions for improvements. Local small groups with managers, supervisors and workers as members arranged regular meetings and followed a systematic model consisting of identification of problems, setting goals, solving problems, implementing changes, monitoring the results and providing feedback. In connection with the projects, everybody working in the intervention area participated in a two-hour training and development seminar. The questionnaire survey was repeated in order to get evaluative information. The effects of the interventions on accident rates were also investigated. The overall accident rate of the shipyard decreased by 56 % during the two year period (the goal was 25 %). According to the questionnaire survey, almost all the workers in the departments with the best results agreed that housekeeping had improved, work was progressing better, hazardous situations had decreased, cooperation had improved, new working practices had been learnt, and job satisfaction had improved. Over 70 % of the workers in these departments reported that it was easy to achieve improvements in their department; this reflected the innovative organization culture. Despite some differences between the departments, some improvements had been achieved in all departments participating in the project. In the metal product factory, the accident rate was reduced by 45 % during the one year period. In addition, improvement was noted, e.g. in delivery reliability, throughput time, productivity and profit. The department was interested in continuing with more demanding development tasks, and a new project was started this year in cooperation with the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health