Title: Safety index: a systematic approach to measure the level of occupational safety in manufacturing industry

Authors: Lakhwinder Pal Singh; Satnam Singh

Addresses: Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, 144011, India ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, 144011, India; Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

Abstract: Despite the advancement in technology, workplace safety in the industry still needs improvements. This study aimed to develop a new safety index, termed as occupational safety evaluation approach (OSEA) index, by using Delphi method. This approach considered 40 factors that were validated with content validity index (CVI). The ideal value of OSEA obtained is 21.07, which is further used for evaluating and mapping the current level of occupational safety of workers in medium-sized iron and steel manufacturing industry. In order to estimate OSEA, a questionnaire-based survey was conducted in 30 medium sized manufacturing industries (MSMI) of Punjab. The results revealed that the OSEA index of MSMI lies in the range of 8.90-17.79. Moreover, it is concluded that OSEA index is a useful tool to measure the existing level of occupational safety of workers in the industry, which can be implemented to assess the level of workplace safety.

Keywords: CVI; content validity index; Delphi method; MSMI; medium sized manufacturing industries; occupational safety level; OSEA; SI; safety index.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHFE.2018.095911

International Journal of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 2018 Vol.5 No.3, pp.210 - 224

Received: 28 Oct 2017
Accepted: 12 Feb 2018
Published online: 26 Oct 2018 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article