Framework to identify occupational health and safety initiatives for different ethical climates

Abstract

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is of vital importance in apparel industry due to its labour intensity. Poorly managed OSH can negatively impact the organisational growth in numerous ways. According to past research, more than 80% of the OSH issues occur due to the employee behaviours related causes, and it is the ethical climate of an organisation that guides the employee to decide upon the right and wrong behaviours at work. Hence, it is essential to identify the ethical climates that may exist in apparel firms and formulate suitable OSH strategies accordingly to guide employee behaviours in managing OSH. Thus, this research was aimed on developing a framework to identify suitable health and safety initiatives for different ethical climates in apparel industry in Sri Lanka. A mixed method approach was selected to carry out the study, considering the nature of this investigation. The OSH issues, their causes, and the ethical climate(s) that can exist in organisations were identified through a literature survey. A situational context analysis was conducted using case study strategy, to investigate OSH issues, their causes, and the ethical climate(s) related to the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Three (03) cases were selected from the medium and large-scale apparel manufacturing organisations in Sri Lanka. These case studies led to find twenty-seven causes of OSH issues, and most of those were worker behaviour related causes. The questionnaire survey conducted within the cases confirmed that different ethical climates exist in the Sri Lankan apparel industry, while principled-local climate is the most common. An expert survey was conducted with thirty (30) OSH experts in apparel industry to identify the suitable health and safety initiatives for different ethical climates By integrating all the research findings, a framework was developed to assist the industry practitioners to identify the prevailing ethical climate in the organisation, based on which the best suited health and safety initiative(s) to the organisation can be selected. As the framework directs the firm towards the best fit, the investment on the health and safety initiatives will be secured. By using the framework in designing safety initiatives, the organisation can expect well behaved workforce in terms of OSH. Further, this study adds to the knowledge on the OSH issues, causes for such issues, prevailing ethical climates in the Sri Lankan apparel industry, and the health and safety initiatives suitable for different ethical climates.