Section 2.6.1 stated that a mandated form of management system shall be established in response to the requirement of the ISM Code. From the functional requirements of the management system as stated in the Code, it is not difficult to understand that the essence of the Code is to call for a system based approach to OHSM in the international shipping industry.
A system based approach to OHSM can be traced back as early as the 1920s in the Western
Electric Company in the US, and the later risk management systems in the1960s and 1970s (Bennett and Foster, 2007). Gunningham and Johnstone (1999) identified that OHSMSs were embedded in the generic management philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM). This has developed since the1980s in which the management of OHS is one of TQM's major objectives. They also argued that a system based approach to OHSM can be defined as a safety management system in many circumstances. In essence, it is an integral part of an integrated TQM system, and a ‘specific application of the generic TQM model’
(Wokutch and VanSandt, 2000, p.370). Furthermore, Gunningham and Johnstone (1999) pointed out that some other modern management philosophies such as Quality Assurance (QA), Just-In-Time (JIT), Lean Production and Agile Production also contribute to the development of an OHSMS.
From Chapter 1 we have seen increasing adoption of OHSMSs across organisations, industries and countries since the 1980s. Even in countries where formal OHSMSs are not mandated by their OHS legislation, it is common that establishing and maintaining such a system is required by most jurisdictions (Nichols and Tucker, 2000). It is regarded as ‘a central strategy to detect and abate workplace hazards, and reduce ill health at work’ (Frick and Wren, 2000, p.17). Its adoption allows an organisation to go beyond compliance with minimum legal standards. This is seen as the ‘promise’ of an OHSMS. It ‘encourages enterprises to do better than minimum standards through a combination of systematic management practice and high level commitment to a safety culture’ (Gunningham and Johnstone, 2000, p.135). These descriptions give explanations for the requirement to have an OHSMS in place in a shipping company prescribed by the Code. In section 4.3, I will detail the basic information of the management systems established in the two companies selected for my study. However, there is a need to briefly review and discuss the major aspects of OHSMSs that have implications for my study of the Chinese shipping industry.
Irrespective of the differences between management systems, it is essential that a written statement of the OHSM policy should be given at the beginning of any OHSMS imitative.
The word 'policy' here means ‘the general intentions, approach and objectives – the vision – of an organisation and the criteria and principles upon which it bases its action’ (HSE, 1997, p.6). It is mainly set up by top management, and should reflect the values/beliefs of the members who produce and implement it in an organisation (Tam et al., 2004). An effective OHSM policy sets a clear direction for members to follow, and it is not about ‘lip service’
given by management, but their ‘genuine commitment to action’ (HSE, 2000, p.6). The importance of OHSM policy is indubitable. Tam et al. (2004) argued that the policy affects organisational safety performance and OHSM practice. It is also one of the contributing causes of workplace incidents/accidents (Fang et al., 2004). In general, the ultimate goal is to maintain specified OHSM standards and achieve expected outcomes.
An OHSM policy is brief, concise and abstract, and it is usually reflected by concrete OHSM objectives. In association with the objectives, OHS indicators were widely used in many shore-based industries for indicating and measuring whether the objectives were met or not (Cox and Cox, 1996; Buchanan and Huczynski, 1997; HSE, 2000; Wokutch and VanSandt; 2000; Balka and Freilich, 2008). In other words, OHS indicators are commonly used for measuring the effectiveness of an OHSMS. The use of indicators has been claimed to be effective in terms of their role in controlling negative events, since they are easily measured and serve as important evidence for rewards and penalties of employee’s behaviours (Wokutch and VanSandt, 2000). Based on the indicators, it is easy to establish observable cause-effect relationship between unsafe practice and the negative events (ibid).
Armstrong and Armstrong (2008) supported the use of indicators for OHSM, since they can provide valuable data for cross time and cross department comparisons of the effectiveness of OHSM issues, which lead to better forms of work organisation. Wadsworth and Smith (2009, p.21) stated that this practice can potentially ‘raise the profile’ of health and safety management for an organisation. Thus, it could be seen that OHS indicators reflect the extent to which an OHSM policy is achieved in practice.
In addition, the OHSM literature shows that one of the significant roles of an OHSMS is its function of continuous improvement (HSE, 1997, p.13). It means that the in-built internal management process within a system should lead to continuous improvement on OHS performance in response to emerging workplace health and safety problems. Many authors such as Shaw and Blewett (2000, p.468), Frick and Wren (2000, p.24), Guningham (2007, p.7) and Psarros et al. (2010) argued that the essential value of a management system is that the system is situated in a status of ‘continuous improvement’. Gunningham and Johnstone (2000, p.144) supported the view that it has a potential of stimulating ‘self-organisation’
and ‘self-regulation’ of OHS activities, and can realise ‘internal self-critical reflection and continuous improvement’. With reference to the management principles of OHSAS 18001, Bennett and Foster (2007, p.38) argued that an OHSMS, in essence, is a ‘dynamic system’
rather than a ‘static one’. Thus, an organisation can be more responsive to the concerns of OHS issues (Gunningham, 2007).
While the positive role of continuous improvement for a management system was confirmed in the extant literature, it remains meaningful to examine how it works in reality and what are the outcomes. The examination in the international shipping industry showed that a similar pattern was followed in the development of an OHSMS. For example, OHS indicators have been commonly used by shipping companies for the measuring the achievement of OHSMSs (see section 4.3.1 and 4.3.2). Although the main focus of this study is shore-ship communication, it will eventually lead to a general assessment on the effectiveness of OHSM. This empirical study hopes to contribute by revealing the situation in the Chinese chemical shipping industry.