Assessing the effectiveness of an occupational health and safety system in a selected automotive assembly organisation in South Africa

Abstract

It has been established that some of the key business strategies that aim at maintaining competitiveness include rebranding to fit the required international standards, increased innovation through research and development, as well as re-profiling operations to respond to the changes in business environment (Bonini & Görner 2011). An effective safety management system (SMS) is one of the strategies for meeting international standards (Phusavat et al. 2017). With increasing complexity in the industrial sector, the increase in accidents and the speed with which techniques evolve in large companies, risk management becomes a decisive and strategic response to safeguard workers’ health and safety (H&S) (Dodge 2012). Every year, thousands of people across businesses are the victims of workplace accidents or develop serious health problems in the workplace. In Kuwait, more than 51 500 work-related accidents are recorded each year, causing a social safety bill of more than 29 billion dinars (or US$94.83 billion) in 2016, against 20 billion dinars (or US$65 billion) for 2014 (Amine & Antar 2017). These expenditures reveal considerable gaps in occupational health and safety (OHS) that an industrialised country cannot afford.