Safety Management in a Manufacturing Company: Six Sigma Approach

Lateef Ur Rehman Ateekh-ur-Rehman

Assistant Professor Department of Industrial Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

DOI: 10.4236/eng.2012.47053                

Abstract

The manufacturing company under consideration recorded the high accident rates for last few years. These accidents cause the organization the heavy man-day loss, the production loss and heavy costs of insurance. The objective of health and safety department at the manufacturing company was to set and improve accidents prevention system. The paper presents how does the six-sigma technique will help to evaluate the safety and environmental hazards in performance of organizations? It is observed that the study helped the management to measure, analyze and improve overall safety plan to protect the life and health of the employees.

Keywords

Manufacturing; Safety; Six-Sigma

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	T. Pyzdek, “The Six Sigma Handbook,” McGraw Hill Book Companies Inc, US, 2002.
[2]	J. Arthur, “Six Sigma Simplified-Quantum Improvements Made Easy,” Life Star, Colorado, US, 2002.
[3]	A. J. Thomas, H. Rowland, P. Byard and J. Rowland, “Lean Six Sigma: An Integrated Strategy for Manufacturing Sustainability,” International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 4, No. 4, 2008, pp. 333-354. doi:10.1504/IJSSCA.2008.022948
[4]	P. Lok, J. Rodes, A. Diamond and N. Bhatia. “The Six Sigma Approach in Performance Management to Improve Safety Culture at Work,” International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2008, pp. 151-171. doi:10.1504/IJSSCA.2008.020280
[5]	D. Zohar, “Safety Climate in Industrial Organizations: Theoretical and Applied Implications,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 65, 1980, pp. 96-102. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.65.1.96
[6]	T. Katz-Navon, E. Naveh and Z. Stern, “Safety Climate in Health Care Organizations: A Multidimensional Approach,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 48, No. 6, 2005, pp. 1075-1089. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2005.19573110
[7]	A. Zacharatos, J. Barling and R. D. Iverson, “High-Performance Work Systems and Occupational Safety,” Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 90, No. 1, 2005, pp. 77-93. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.90.1.77
[8]	K. A. Brown, P. G. Willis and G. E. Prussia, “Predicting Safe Employee Behavior in the Steel Industry: Development and Test of a Socio Technical Model,” Journal of Operations Management, Vol. 18, No. 4, 2000, pp. 445-465. doi:10.1016/S0272-6963(00)00033-4
[9]	D. A. Hofmann and A. Stetzer, “The Role of Safety Climate and Communication in Accident Interpretation: Implications for Learning from Negative Events,” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41, No. 6, 1998, pp. 644- 657. doi:10.2307/256962
[10]	R. Scott Stricoff and J. Seymour Kristen, “Six Sigma Applied to Safety,” ASSE Professional Development Conference and Exposition, 10-13 June 2001, Anaheim, California.
[11]	J. Staryarsky and R. Whitfield, “From No Class to ‘World Class’ Safety,” ASSE Professional Development Conference and Exposition, 7-10 June 2004, Las Vegas, Nevada.
[12]	I. Bahadir and R. Ivan, “Six Sigma Implementation for Ship Maintenance and Safety Management,” Annual Conference and Meeting of the International Association of Maritime Economists—IAME, Panama, 12-15 November 2002.
[13]	T. Y. Ng, F. Tsung, R. H. Y. So, T. S. Li and K. Y. Lam, “An Application of Six Sigma Approach to Reduce Fall Hazards among Cargo Handlers Working on Top of Cargo Containers,” International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005, pp. 188-209. doi:10.1504/IJSSCA.2005.006424
[14]	M. S. Litwin, “How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity,” SAGE Publications, London, 1995.