Impact of organization decision making styles and safety accountability on occupational health and safety implementation: The moderating role of mimetic motives.

The agriculture sector is a traditional economic pillar of many emerging economies. However, it is facing greater occupational health and safety (OHS) challenges in Pakistan, and its performance is continuously decreasing. An effective OHS implementation provides better control over OHS challenges and may help to restore its former glory. Therefore, this study aims to explore different organizational decision-making styles and safety accountability to put OHS into practice in this sector. Based on institutional theory, a theoretical framework was developed. Two hundred and eighty-seven agriculture farms in Punjab, Pakistan were surveyed and analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.7. The findings revealed that implementation styles (rational and incremental) and safety accountability positively impact OHS implementation. Similarly, the moderating role of mimetic motives was found positively significant in the relationship between rational style and OHS implementation, and negatively significant in the relationship between incremental style and OHS implementation. While no moderating effect of mimetic motive was found between safety accountability and OHS implementation. This study suggested that OHS implementation should not be viewed as a social or technical issue alone. Strategic arrangements should be made at the organizational level to gain better control over OHS challenges by considering the institutional environment in which the organization operates.

Perceived safety management practices in the logistics sector.

BACKGROUND: Malaysia's progress on logistics has been slowed to keep pace with its growth in trade. The Government has been pressing companies to improve the safety of their activities in order to reduce society's loss due to occupational accidents and illnesses. Occupational safety and health is a crucial part of a workplace because every worker has to take care of his/her own safety and health. The main occupational safety and health (OSH) national policy in Malaysia is the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. Only those companies which have excellent health and safety care have good quality and productive employees. This study investigated safety management practices in the logistics sector. OBJECTIVES: The present study is concerned with the human factors to safety in the logistics industry. The authors examined the perceived safety management practices of workers in the logistics sector. The purpose was to identify the perception of safety management practices of Malaysian logistics personnel. METHODS: Survey questionnaires were distributed to assess logistics personnel about management commitment. The quantitative method using the availability sampling method was applied. The data gathered from the survey were analysed using SPSS software. The responses to the survey were rated according to the Likert scale type, with '1' indicating strongly disagree and '5' indicating strongly agree. One hundred and three employees of logistics functions completed the survey. RESULTS: The highest mean scores were found for fire apparatus, prioritisation of safety, and safety policy. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study also emphasise the importance of the management's commitment in enhancing workplace safety. Specifically, companies should maintain good relations between the employer and the employee to help reduce workplace injuries.