**1. Introduction**

Industrial work environments are often characterized by dynamic resources including interactions between mobile equipment and pedestrian workers. The hazardous work environment characteristic of industrial facilities is evident in the high rates of workplace injuries and fatalities experienced regularly. These high-risk industries include construction, steel manufacturing, oil and gas, aviation, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting, etc.

For instance, the construction industry remains one of the most hazardous and unsafe industries with fatality and incidence rates considerably higher than the allindustry average in many countries [1–4]. Incident statistics indicate that construction workers have consistently incurred more fatal injuries than in other industries. Despite the efforts to improve safety performance, the construction sector continues to account for disproportionate injury rates accounting for the most on-the-job fatal

injuries. In the United States, construction remains the most hazardous industry in terms of the aggregate number of fatalities [1]. Thus, innovative intervention strategies are being continuously explored by researchers and practitioners to enhance management controls as well as modify human behavior and work environment to improve construction safety.

Steel manufacturing is one of the most hazardous industries because of its complex socio-technical system. The steel manufacturing process involves the use of high technology and physical labor, making safety management a complicated task [5]. Members of the U.S. steel manufacturing industry continue to experience a significant number of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities [6]. The combination of intricate technology and physical labor creates a complicated challenge for safety managers in steel manufacturing [5].

The fundamental goal of measuring safety performance is to create and implement intervention strategies for potential avoidance of future accidents. Recognizing signals before an accident occurs offers the potential for improving safety; many organizations have sought to develop programs to identify and benefit from alerts, signals, and prior indicators [7]. Traditional measures of safety performance rely on some form of accident or injury data [8], with actions being taken in response to adverse trends in injuries [9]. Many organizations rely heavily on failure data to monitor performance. The consequence of this approach is that improvements or changes are only determined after something has gone wrong [10]. In most cases, the difference between whether a system failure results in a minor or catastrophic outcome is purely a matter of chance.

Effective management of major hazards requires a proactive approach to risk management, so information to confirm that critical systems are operating as intended is essential [11]. Transitioning the emphasis in favor of leading indicators to confirm that risk controls continue to operate is an important step forward in the management of major hazard risks [10]. Accurate safety performance measurement facilitates the evaluation of ongoing safety management and the motivation of project participants to improve safety [12].

The ability to collect, analyze and disseminate safety information using a large amount of useful data from leading indicators can allow for hazardous events and conditions to be efficiently mitigated and controlled before a lagging indicator occurs [11]. In this chapter, a background to safety management in industrial engineering is presented followed by a discussion of the various issues of industrial safety management. The existing and commonly used safety performance measurement methods are extensively described. Several case studies are used to explain the methods and explore the important application areas relevant to most industrial sectors. The techniques and tools for safety data collection, analysis, and sharing are introduced together with their applications for safety management while the use of emerging technologies for enhancing safety management in most industries is discussed in the last section.

## **2. Safety culture**

The safety culture of an organization refers to the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to and the style and proficiency of an organization's safety and health management [13]. Safety culture has been defined in a variety of ways and there is no standard definition of safety culture. This is mainly because a culture of safety has diverse meanings in different industries and people may have

**67**

*Industrial Safety Management Using Innovative and Proactive Strategies*

organization owns in safety [16]

the necessity for effective controls [19]

performance [17]

[8] Safety culture is thought to influence employees' attitudes and behavior in relation to an

[15] The Safety Culture is made up of a collection of individual cultures and other subcultures within the environmental constraints and promotions of the organization [15]

[18] Safety culture forms a subset of organizational culture relating specifically to the values and beliefs concerning health and safety within an organization [18]

[19] Safety culture refers to shared attitudes, values, beliefs, and practices concerning safety and

[20] Safety culture is defined as: those aspects of the organizational culture which will impact on attitudes and behavior related to increasing or decreasing risk [20] [21] Safety culture is shaped by people working together in organizational structures and social

> relationships in the workplace. The key attributes of organizational culture are defined as organizational communication, senior management commitment and organizational

members' attitudes and behavior in relation to an organization's ongoing health and safety

[16] Safety culture is defined as a set of prevailing indicators, beliefs, and values that the

[17] Safety culture is a sub-facet of organizational culture, which is thought to affect

organization's ongoing health and safety performance [14]

various understandings in different situations. Selected examples of safety culture

reducing incidents, conducting a successful near-miss, and incident reporting in an organization. The growing importance of safety culture to the industry is evidenced by reports, guidelines, publications, workshops, and conferences. As an industry-led initiative, the Center for Offshore Safety (COS) defined six specific elements characteristic of a successful offshore safety culture, including leadership, respect and trust, environment for raising concerns, open communication, personal accountability, and inquiring attitude [22]. According to the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), "Safety culture refers to the interaction between the requirements of the Safety Management System (SMS), how people make sense of them, based on their attitudes, values, and beliefs, and what they actually do, as seen in decisions and behaviors" [23]. A safety culture model (**Figure 1**) was developed by ERA to assess safety culture and identify improvable areas [23]. The model is made up of three building blocks: cultural enablers, behavior patterns, and

• Cultural enablers: those levers through which an organizational culture

• Behavior patterns: those shared ways of thinking and acting which convey the

• Railway safety fundamentals: those core principles which must be reflected by behavior patterns to achieve sustainable safety performance and organizational

Strong safety culture has a significant impact on improving safety performance,

definitions are organized and shown in **Table 1**.

learning [21]

*Selected safety culture definitions.*

**Table 1.**

railway safety fundamentals [23].

organizational culture;

develops;

excellence.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93797*

**Reference Definition of safety culture**

*Industrial Safety Management Using Innovative and Proactive Strategies DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93797*


#### **Table 1.**

*Concepts, Applications and Emerging Opportunities in Industrial Engineering*

improve construction safety.

managers in steel manufacturing [5].

catastrophic outcome is purely a matter of chance.

project participants to improve safety [12].

discussed in the last section.

**2. Safety culture**

injuries. In the United States, construction remains the most hazardous industry in terms of the aggregate number of fatalities [1]. Thus, innovative intervention strategies are being continuously explored by researchers and practitioners to enhance management controls as well as modify human behavior and work environment to

Steel manufacturing is one of the most hazardous industries because of its complex socio-technical system. The steel manufacturing process involves the use of high technology and physical labor, making safety management a complicated task [5]. Members of the U.S. steel manufacturing industry continue to experience a significant number of injuries, illnesses, and fatalities [6]. The combination of intricate technology and physical labor creates a complicated challenge for safety

The fundamental goal of measuring safety performance is to create and implement intervention strategies for potential avoidance of future accidents. Recognizing signals before an accident occurs offers the potential for improving safety; many organizations have sought to develop programs to identify and benefit from alerts, signals, and prior indicators [7]. Traditional measures of safety performance rely on some form of accident or injury data [8], with actions being taken in response to adverse trends in injuries [9]. Many organizations rely heavily on failure data to monitor performance. The consequence of this approach is that improvements or changes are only determined after something has gone wrong [10]. In most cases, the difference between whether a system failure results in a minor or

Effective management of major hazards requires a proactive approach to risk management, so information to confirm that critical systems are operating as intended is essential [11]. Transitioning the emphasis in favor of leading indicators to confirm that risk controls continue to operate is an important step forward in the management of major hazard risks [10]. Accurate safety performance measurement facilitates the evaluation of ongoing safety management and the motivation of

The ability to collect, analyze and disseminate safety information using a large

The safety culture of an organization refers to the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to and the style and proficiency of an organization's safety and health management [13]. Safety culture has been defined in a variety of ways and there is no standard definition of safety culture. This is mainly because a culture of safety has diverse meanings in different industries and people may have

amount of useful data from leading indicators can allow for hazardous events and conditions to be efficiently mitigated and controlled before a lagging indicator occurs [11]. In this chapter, a background to safety management in industrial engineering is presented followed by a discussion of the various issues of industrial safety management. The existing and commonly used safety performance measurement methods are extensively described. Several case studies are used to explain the methods and explore the important application areas relevant to most industrial sectors. The techniques and tools for safety data collection, analysis, and sharing are introduced together with their applications for safety management while the use of emerging technologies for enhancing safety management in most industries is

**66**

*Selected safety culture definitions.*

various understandings in different situations. Selected examples of safety culture definitions are organized and shown in **Table 1**.

Strong safety culture has a significant impact on improving safety performance, reducing incidents, conducting a successful near-miss, and incident reporting in an organization. The growing importance of safety culture to the industry is evidenced by reports, guidelines, publications, workshops, and conferences. As an industry-led initiative, the Center for Offshore Safety (COS) defined six specific elements characteristic of a successful offshore safety culture, including leadership, respect and trust, environment for raising concerns, open communication, personal accountability, and inquiring attitude [22]. According to the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), "Safety culture refers to the interaction between the requirements of the Safety Management System (SMS), how people make sense of them, based on their attitudes, values, and beliefs, and what they actually do, as seen in decisions and behaviors" [23]. A safety culture model (**Figure 1**) was developed by ERA to assess safety culture and identify improvable areas [23]. The model is made up of three building blocks: cultural enablers, behavior patterns, and railway safety fundamentals [23].


**Figure 1.** *European Railway Safety Culture Model 2.0: Components.*

Within a positive safety culture, the organization's formal management systems and leaders' informal management practices encourage, recognize, and reinforce safe behaviors, and create an environment where employees feel responsible for their safety and the safety of their peers [14]. The largest indicator of a management's commitment to safety is the investments made for safety including discretionary safety funding [24]. Previous research investigated the correlation between safety discretionary funding of construction companies and their corresponding safety record [25]. Results suggest that increasing the amount of discretionary safety funding in a construction company can improve their incident record. Furthermore, companies that invest in safety programs, training, and employee incentives can improve their safety record [25]. Finally, results from a construction safety study found that organizational commitment throughout all levels (top management, site level, to the individual level) is the key to promoting improved safety performance [26].
