Safety Management System in TQM environments

Abstract

[EN] Safety Management Systems continue to be a prevalent research topic nowadays, which has gone from being an incipient construct to an essential factor in new currents of business management. Organizations have perceived the importance of organizing their techniques and resources under a Safety Management System with models similar to other certification systems such as the ISO 9000 family of standards. This research is aimed at knowing the conditions that accelerate the adoption of a Safety Management System, either under the principles, beliefs and values of Total Quality Management or as a consequence of the implementation and application of essential safety management techniques, namely, risk assessment processes, assumption of safety responsibilities and safety training. It has been proven that companies operating in Total Quality Management environments are more likely to adopt a Safety Management System than those which apply key safety management practices in isolation. Results show the potential of Total Quality Management to promote a Safety Management System by itself, even in the absence of proven core practices. The results are robust and suggest maintaining principles of the quality paradigm when pursuing more ambitious models based on total management such as Total Safety Management.