The Impact of Superior Roles in Safety Management on Safety Performance in SME Manufacturing in Malaysia

Abstract

Small and medium entrepreneurship (SMEs) is the backbone of countries’ development. Over the years, there have been a large percentage of workplace injuries by SMEs in Malaysia, including financial and other SMEs’ constraints, which inform of inexpensive approach, thus requiring effective approaches to boost their safety performance. SME is unique in terms of characteristics, such as flat organizational structure. Thus, the owner-managers and the supervisors’ safety management, respectively, are proposed to impact the safety performance. This signals the need to examine how owner-managers and supervisors’ safety management practices improve occupational safety performance in SME manufacturing companies. Grounded on the Theories of Accident Causation, the present study applied a research model examining the relationship between owner-manager safety management practices (safety concern, safety policy and safety motivation) and safety management of supervisors, and the overall safety performance in Malaysia’s SME manufacturing. The questionnaires were distributed to the production workers in SME manufacturing firms in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 165 production workers participated in the study. The data collected were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Based on the analysis, the study revealed that safety concern, safety policy and safety motivation, each, have a meaningful relationship with safety performance, while the supervisor’s safety management did not significantly affect safety performance. Our results extend previous research by highlighting the importance of owner-manager safety management practices in driving safety performance and indicating how each dimension of safety management practices either enhances or inhibits safety performance. The present study is the first empirical research investigating the relationship between manager and supervisor’s safety management and safety performance in the SME manufacturing setting.

PENGUATKUASAAN PEMATUHAN PERUNDANGAN BERKAITAN KESELAMATAN DAN KESIHATAN PEKERJAAN DI SEKTOR PEMBINAAN (Enforcement of Occupational Safety and Health related Legal’s Compliances in Construction Sector)

“…Sekiranya terjadi kemalangan di tempat kerja, ia akan memberi kesan buruk kepada sesebuah organisasi. Kesan tersebut terdiri dari segi kerugian kewangan dan kehilangan moral pekerja (Hussin et al, 2009;Mansur et al, 2011;Zakaria et al, 2012;Zulkifly et al, 2021). Dalam sektor binaan pula, kemalangan menyumbang secara langsung kepada kos binaan, iaitu melalui peningkatan pampasan dan insurans, dan secara tidak langsung melalui penurunan produktiviti, ketidakpatuhan kualiti serta kelewatan kemajuan projek (Hamid et al, 2019).…”

“…Namun, kadar kemalangan maut bagi sektor binaan adalah sentiasa lebih tinggi berbanding dengan kadar keseluruhan negara. Oleh itu, kajian ini merumuskan bahawa prestasi KKP dari segi jumlah kemalangan dan keterukan kecederaan (Chua & Wahab, 2017;Shang et al, 2011;Zulkifly et al, 2021) bagi sektor binaan masih tidak memuaskan dan perlu diberi perhatian serius oleh para pihak berkepentingan KKP. Oleh itu, berdasarkan statistik yang dipaparkan dalam Rajah 1 hingga Rajah 3, terbukti bahawa prestasi KKP di sektor binaan di Malaysia adalah buruk.…”

The Investigation of Safety Behavior in Logistic Companies of Malaysia

“…In this study, safety leadership comprise two dimensions: safety concern and safety motivation [26,41]. Basically, the items are adapted the questions from [10].…”

“…The several earlier researchers promoted the proactive method of measuring safety performance by measuring safety behavior [25][26][27]. Furthermore, researchers have recently used four dimensions to evaluate the safety performance such as perceived accident reduction, perceived equipment failure, perceived goods defect & damage, and reported personal injury reduction [28].…”

Exploring Determinants of Safety Behavior in Malaysian SMEs Manufacturing Firms: An Extended Conceptual Model

“…The SMEs manufacturing firms' critical role in Malaysia's economic success has grown significantly since 2000, becoming one of the country's largest employment sectors and export contributors [3]. The SMEs manufacturing firms are a crucial component of Malaysia's economic landscape, comprising 98.5% of all business establishments, and play a pivotal role in job creation by employing almost 70% of the country's workforce [4].…”