Operations social practices in safety and health at work
Keywords:
Sustainability, Scale development, Social practice, Health and safety at work, Q-sortAbstract
Abstract
Purpose – Studying the gap between improvements in operational performance of a manufacturing
organization does not necessarily represent the existent of safe and healthy work. The purpose of this paper is
to fill this gap validating a scale about social practices.
Design/methodology/approach – The literature was studied; data analysis instrument and the scale
validated by Q-sort. The reliability and validity of research instrument indicators were drawing from the
analysis of judges. The data were assessed by convergence matrix.
Findings – It was validated five social practices factors. It was enabled the adequacy of the name of the
constructs and establishment which indicators better convergence to the constructs.
Research limitations/implications – The judge´s number that answered the research was low. The level
of convergence related of two factors was above 50 percent.
Practical implications – It is possible to achieve better levels of performance through social practices.
Organizationsmust rethink the management and the routine of the workers to implement the operational practices.
Social implications – The practices need to have with well-defined rules, as well as action to drive
compliance. This vision also needs to be expanded to suppliers, customers and society.
Originality/value – Highlight five points: technology is the main factor for analyzes and decisions; the
search for quality leads organizations to seek practices that improve workers’ well-being, health and safety;
the activities of the worker are carried out on the factory, or in the work environment; Should not to belittle the
local community; culture is an essential factor to continuous improvement.
Keywords Sustainability, Scale development, Social practice, Health and safety at work, Q-sort