Total Productive Maintenance and effectiveness of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

Abstract

Many manufacturing organizations already have occupational health and safety (OHS) management systems in place but for most of them, high standards of safety performance still cannot be assured. The success of an OHS management system depends on whether the organization has implemented the system proactively, which in turn is related to the safety culture of the organization. The project commenced with the identification of safety culture factors that can improve safety performance and can be enhanced by Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM is a maintenance system which promotes productive maintenance but it also contributes to a positive safety culture through management incentive, management commitment, participation of management and workers, communication, education and training, working conditions and procedures, morale and job satisfaction, and attitude and risk perception. Questionnaires were designed based on the safety culture factors identified. These were then sent to companies with or without TPM to collect the opinions of workers on safety culture. T-test method was used to compare the results obtained from the two different sample groups, to verify the effectiveness of TPM on safety culture. Finally, a framework of TPM activities was developed for manufacturing organizations to improve safety performance.

Keywords: Total Productive Maintenance, Occupational Health, Safety Management Systems

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