Assessing the effects of lean on occupational health and safety in the Ready-Made Garment industry

Sense of Coherence and Lean-based leadership and alterations in sick leave and productivity at a steel wire manufacturing unit

BACKGROUND

Managers have an important role in the creation of workplace conditions that prevent sick leave and lead to high performance. In Lean, the assumption is that people are the source for continuous improvements. There is a need for more knowledge about what kind of leadership can help managers in a Lean context to create workplace conditions for less sick leave and higher performance.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to examine how productivity and rate of sick leave changed at a stainless wire manufacturing unit after implementing a new leadership approach based on Sense of Coherence theory (SOC) and Lean philosophy.

METHODS

In this case study, interventions coupled with productivity, quality and sick leave evaluations through the company's key performance indicators were performed. The follow-up was also based on narrative descriptions from the management team in the course of four meetings during the intervention. Notes were taken and analyzed regarding perceived outcomes of the intervention.

RESULTS

The results showed that leadership based on SOC and Lean philosophy is positively correlated with productivity per worker, as was the amount of yearly production that met the quality specifications. The amount of sick leave decreased during the period of the intervention compared to before the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in management contribute to productivity. Combining Lean tools and Lean philosophy with the Sense of Coherence theory (SOC) as a base for leadership can influence productivity and decrease the rate of sick leave.

Task performance and occupational health and safety management systems in the garment industry of Bangladesh

Purpose

This study investigates the relationship between individual task performance of garment workers and occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) in the garment industry of Bangladesh.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a quantitative research approach and using a four-stage cluster sampling technique, data collected from 610 workers of twelve garments supplier factories using a structured questionnaire. Mean, standard deviation, correlation and stepwise multiple regressions performed to understand the relationship between task performance and OHSMS.

Findings

The study results demonstrate that occupational health and safety (OHS) policy, benchmarking, worker participation, OHS training, communication, emergency response, preventive and protective action, monitoring and review are the significant predictors of individual task performance of garment workers; and OHS policy contributes most substantially to the variance of task performance in the garment industry of Bangladesh.

Research limitations/implications

This study’s findings contribute to operations management, human resources management and the health and safety management literature by demonstrating a link between operational performance, human resources management and OHSMS.

Practical implications

This study could be beneficial for garment suppliers to understand how effective OHSMS can reduce production costs by increasing worker efficiency.

Originality/value

This is a unique research attempt as it considers the task performance dimension of an individual garment worker from the OHS management perspective.