Innovation and Optimization of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System in a Selected Industrial Enterprise –A Case Study
Innovation and Optimization of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System in a Selected Industrial Enterprise –A Case Study

Author(s): Anna Gembalska-Kwiecień, Bożena Skotnicka-Zasadzień
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Economy
Published by: Vysoká škola ekonomická v Praze
Keywords: Innovation; optimization of the Occupational Health and Safetysystem; safety management systems; accident at work; human factor
Summary/Abstract: Purpose:The presented article attempts to optimize and innovate the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management system in the industrial enterprise in order to reduce the number of potentially accidental events, occupational diseases, accidents at work, and thus to improve work safety at each position. It also presents the developed activities, procedures and instructions thanks to which the OHS management system in the enterprise was introduced. Design/methodology/approach:The implementation process according to the standard consisted of several stages: beginning with the preparation and publication of Health and Safety Policy to the enterprise's employees by the enterprise's Management Board. Health and Safety Policy included the main objectives set by the highest management. The next step was to order the enterprise's Management to perform a preliminary review to assess and analyze the current status of health and safety at work. As a result of the analysis of the studied processes in the enterprise's occupational safety and health management system, those fragments of processes that could and should be improved have been identified. Findings:Documents of the internal OHS management system were created, professional risk management procedures were defined and methods for preventing and reacting to accidents and failures were developed. The enterprise developed methods formonitoring the occupational health and safety at work, investigating accidents at work and the method of conducting internal audits. The preventive correction procedures in the occupational health and safety management system were established. Research/practical implications:The development of specific procedures has made it possible to systematize the occupational health and safety system in force at the enterprise, which will consequently optimize the improvement of safety, and introduce a continuous monitoring and improvement process that should further improve the work safety of the enterprise. The most important elements of the implemented occupational health and safety system in industrial enterprise were the development and publication of a security policy by the enterprise's Management Board, in which the care for employees and their safety was clearly and unambiguously declared. Originality/value:The article uses an approach that focuses on innovation and optimization of OHS management in the industrial enterprise. Specific actions, procedures and instructions have been developed to allow a more creative and innovative approach to the difficult subject of occupational safety

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