Occupational Safety Strategic Management

This document discusses the importance of occupational safety in strategic management and its advantages and disadvantages. It focuses on Air New Zealand as a case study and provides recommendations for the company. The document covers topics such as measurement issues, safety triangle, validation and reliability of data, relevance of data, understanding hazards, and more. It also highlights the advantages of improved health and safety performance, reduction in costs, improved staff relations and morale, improved business efficiency, and improved public image. However, it also mentions the disadvantages of increased costs and challenges in determining safety performance indicators. Overall, this document provides valuable insights into the importance of occupational safety in strategic management.

Occupational Safety Strategic
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Analysis...........................................................................................................................................3
Measurement issues that Air New Zealand can incorporate.......................................................3
Advantages..................................................................................................................................6
Disadvantages..............................................................................................................................8
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Occupational Safety is concerned with safety, health and welfare of people at work.
Safety can be defined as freedom from any kind of risk of injury and health can be defined as
freedom from any kind of illness Mohammadfam and et.al., (2017). In context of occupation
health and safety it can be considered as a workplace that is free of all hazards which possess
potential threat to safety of those workers working in occupational premises. Occupations this is
why requiring maintaining safety for the workers and along with that it also has been required by
law to maintain safety in workplace. This report will discuss about utilization of findings related
to occupations safety possible advantages and disadvantages to organisations. This report will
later also discuss about possible recommendations that company organisations can implement
along with current measures. The organisation is Air New Zealand, the company is flag carrier
airline of New Zealand. Founded in 1940 company is headquartered at Auckland. Employing
around 10500 employees airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 32
international destinations in around 20 countries and along with this also an member of Star
Alliances.
Analysis
Measurement issues that Air New Zealand can incorporate
The document that is based on the concept of safety in occupation discuses several
elements of the occupational safety. This document firstly includes measuring work-related
injuries and illness. Analysis of this suggests that measurement of work-related injuries and
illness is difficult and the reason being differences in nature of injuries and illness. This make it
difficult to aggregate measures for these two, however its utility for decision and policy makers
at Air New Zealand is that they will need to consider the difference in these two and make their
decision on the basis of identified differences Amponsah-Tawiah & Mensah, (2016).
Subsequently injuries and illness also have different nature and different causes and contributing
factors yet they can be aggregated on the basis of injuries and illness. It is important to consider
that measures of work-related injuries and illness should be valid, relevant and reliable. This
means that measurement of injuries and illness should be based on injuries and illness. It should

be relevant to their intended purpose and different information being used for measurement
should also be relevant to the injuries and illness. Reliable means that the data and information
collected should be completely based on fact and should be free of all emissions. This is
important to be considered by management and policy makers of Air New Zealand. Absence of
these elements can lead to ineffective decision that might not be useful for the purpose of
occupation safety in Air New Zealand. Issues related to measurement that could be incorporated
by Air New Zealand are-
Safety Triangle
Management at Air New Zealand can also consider the Heinrich's triangle for the purpose
of analysing and classifying injuries in three categories. The categories are Major Injuries, Minor
Injuries and No Injuries Incidents. This provide an effective framework for classifying injuries
and measuring impact that different kinds of injuries have such as their cause and their effect on
those experiences and sustained injuries and on organisation and its productivity. Major injuries
have severe and significant impact. Minor are those with comparatively less impact and no
injuries incidents are those that had potential of injury but workers when met the incident does
not had any kind of injuries Melin, Lager & Lindfors, (2018). However, major and minor injuries
are able to attract attention of management of Air New Zealand. But it is important to consider
the incidents without injuries because it possess potential of injuries in future, in order to avoid
injuries in future it is important that they are dealt and removed on time in order to prevent
injuries.
Validation of data for measurement
This analysis also included view points with help of which Air New Zealand
management will be able to validate data on work related injuries and illness. There are three
different approaches to validate the data, this is Content validity, Criterion validity, Construct
validity. Because of diverse range of attributes and outcome it is very important for management
of Air New Zealand to consider validity and for the purpose of that any of the given approaches
can be utilised by Air New Zealand. During validation of measurement of safety LTI (Lost Time
Injury data) is also important and requires special attention. Many of the industries and
organisations have adopted LTI and LTI frequency rates as key performance indicators to guide

work health and safety strategy and communicate performance in corporate reports regarding
health and safety. LTI reflects number of incidents or events that result in lost of productivity
that is also known as lost workdays Shea and et.al., (2016). This also involves injuries that vary
in substantially of severity and measures of workdays.
Reliability of data for Measurement
This is another important issue for the measurement of safety in organisation that is
useful for Air New Zealand. Reliability of data refers to authenticity and correctness of the data,
this means that data needs to be collected from primary and secondary sources. This issue is
important for useful for Air New Zealand because through this they will need to know whether
the sources are reliable. Reliability also involves that data of safety is free of all kind of
omission. This issue is also useful for Air New Zealand as this allows them to know all the
reliability concerns that are-
 Issues of Sample Size
 Issues of under-reporting of injury
 Issues in under-reporting of occupational illness
This is important that the data is reliable because in case the data is not reliable the decisions and
strategies that are based on the measurement of safety will also become ineffective and in case
data is highly unreliable this will affect the quality of decisions and strategies and make it
useless. This means that in case of permanent disability
Relevance of data for measurement
This is another important issue that is related to the measurement of safety in
organisation. Air New Zealand needs to ensure that data collected and being measured for the
purpose of safety from primary as well secondary sources from where the data is collected. For
the effectiveness of the measurement and data it is important that data for measurement is
relevant to the topic of safety in organisation Haas & Yorio, (2016). This issue is highly useful
for company and can be utilised by Air New Zealand in order to ensure effectiveness of the
decisions and strategies related to the safety in organisation. In relation with Air New Zealand

safety measurement should be related to safety concerns and issues in airline industry. For the
purpose of relevance the data qualitative attributes of data can be classified on the basis of
severity of incidents and their impact on the workers as well as on organisation.
First aid, medical treatment, lost time injury and fatality. This is based on traditional
classification of work related injuries and illness. Alternative approach for the classification of
data of safety, classifies the data on the basis of Insignificant affect on life, temporary affect on
life, permanent affect on life and loss of life.
Understanding Hazards
This is another issue that is related to safety and Air New Zealand, in this issue company
needs to identify and understand different hazards that possess potential threat to safety of
workers in organisation. Understanding hazards refers to understanding what possess potential
threat to the safety of workers at Air New Zealand. This includes all employees and workers in
different job roles of the organisation. This is important to understand and collect data based on
their potential of threat and past incidences related to the hazard. This will allow management of
Air New Zealand to take effective decisions on the basis of which later the potential threat can be
prevented. For example ensuring safety of Pilots is important for ensuring safety of passengers
travelling Bianchini and et.al., (2017). This is an important issue this will enable company to
make decision and train workers and employees so that they can prevent the threat to their safety.
Measuring work-related Injury and Illness
This is another issue that Air New Zealand can experience in relation with measuring
health and safety. There are several roles involved in overall operations of Air New Zealand and
this is why it becomes complex and critical to measure work-related injury and illness in
different roles of Air New Zealand. These roles are operational roles and corporate roles and all
these roles have different possibilities and probabilities for health and safety. Operational roles in
Air New Zealand include roles that operate from below the wheel, above the wheel, cargo, flight
operations, in-flight support services. All these roles possess different possibilities of injury and
illness and reporting of them is really complicated and one of the important issue in measuring
and reporting of health and safety. Because all these roles along with roles at corporate level

have different requirements for health and safety and measuring them is an critical issue for Air
New Zealand.
Advantages
Measurement and reporting of health and safety performance is important and useful for
indentifying whether organisation is able to achieve overall health and safety performance or not.
This is important for taking remedial action and identifying correct practices and health and
safety performance. Other than this some of the advantages are as follows-
Improved Performance in Health and Safety
All the measures discussed above for effectiveness of health and safety measurement
support and contribute in improving performance of health and safety in Air New Zealand. This
is because measurement and reporting of health and safety of organisation contribute in effective
decisions and strategy making which subsequently enhances and improves performance of the
organisation in Air New Zealand. Improved health and safety performance refers to decrease in
incidences and factors that possess potential for accidents and injuries.
Reduction in cost associated with injuries and accidents
This is an important factor that is associated with injuries and incidents and effective
measurement and management of health and safety in occupation will reduce the cost for Air
New Zealand. This is because occupational health and safety when is not properly managed it
can result in extensive to the Air New Zealand. This is in several types that is in reduction of
productivity and cost that incurs on injuries in form of staff compensation, cost of hiring staff to
fill the temporary gaps and maintenance of workplace after incidents Cerqueira, Carvalho &
Melo, (2017). These are some of the cost that are directly associated with injuries and incidents
in Air New Zealand.
Improvement in Staff Relation and Morale
This means that when organisation improves their safety and health measures and
performance this enhances staff relation and morale. This also reduces any kind of threat that
employees have because of improper safety and health measures taken by Air New Zealand. This
is an important concern for staff whether the management is taking interest in their health and

safety or not. This also makes impact on the perception of employees regarding their value in Air
New Zealand. For effective performance of employees and their relation with management and
increased morale it is important that employees perceive they are valued in organisation. this
requires Air New Zealand management to take effective decision of health and safety measures
and this is possible with help of health and safety measurement and reporting in most effective
way. employing when get to know that Air New Zealand has effective measurements of safety
they start feeling more secure and satisfied concerned with potential risk.
Improve business Efficiency
Health and safety are very important for organisational and business efficiency. Health
and safety in organisational reflect consciousness of the organisation regarding health and safety
of the workers and in case of Air New Zealand it is directly linked with safety of passengers.
Passengers are more likely to prefer airlines that are comparatively safer to travel with. In
relation with air travel safety is one of the important concern and this requires that Air New
Zealand take all the required measures to ensure health and safety of the workers and this also
affect and reflect concern of organisation for health and safety of the passengers Dejanović &
Heleta, (2016). Some other ways in which organisation improves its efficiency by taking health
and safety measures are-
 Reduction in number of sick leaves
 Reduction in employee absenteeism
 Increased morale result in increased performance of employees
 Improved staff retention
 Better customer services by the staff
These are some of the elements of improved organisational performance because of health and
safety measures.
Improved Public Image

This means that taking effective and adequate measures of health and safety also make
effective impression of the organisation on the public. This makes direct impact on the
attractiveness of the organisation for the potential customers. This is because customers are less
likely to trust companies that do not consider and take care of their employees’ safety and health.
in relations with Air New Zealand its services also consist health and safety as an important
element of its attractiveness and when customers perceive and believe that organisation do not
take care of health and safety of the employees are they are less likely to trust on the services of
organisation.
Disadvantages
Increased Cost
This is one of the important disadvantages of occupational health and safety Evangelinos
and et.al., (2018). This means that occupational health and safety requires additional cost to
ensure health and safety and prevent potential injuries and incidents. This requires company to
spend additional cost on the safety of those equipments that are used for organisational
operations. In context of Air New Zealand it requires to incur the cost in its aircrafts and in its
organisational operations. This is what makes it a disadvantage. In relation with measurement
and reporting of the occupational health and safety it also incurs significant cost when
organisations collect data regarding safety and health performance of the organisation.
Challenges in determination of safety performance indicators
This is one of the disadvantage that is associated with difficulty and challenges that
aviation organisation can face while measuring and reporting safety performance. This means
that measurement is mainly based on performance indicators and having several roles of
different nature in aviation industry it can become complex to determine safety performance
indicators.
Declaration of Organisational incidents and data related to Injuries
This is one of the important disadvantage of the measurement and reporting of the
occupational health and safety. This means that when organisation measure and report the data of
organisational health and safety which also include incidents and injuries and their effect. This

reflects inefficiency of the organisation and their health and safety performance. Employees
when get to know about the incidences experienced and injuries sustained by their fellow
employees, this affect motivation and morale of the employees. This can also affect image and
goodwill of organisation in relation with concern of organisation for their employees, injuries
and incidences when are high in number it create negative image of the organisation and also
affect goodwill of the organisation. This means that in many contexts measurement and reporting
of the health and safety performance of the organisation is also a disadvantage for the
organisation. In relation with measurement and reporting of occupational health and safety
organisation should consider this disadvantage.
Time consuming
This means that measurement and reporting of health and safety is time consuming and
requires time that can be utilised in other productive activities of the organisation Wu and et.al.,
(2016). This becomes more useless when organisation employs effective health and safety
measures and there is nothing that requires to be improved. Along with time it also requires
considerable efforts of the staff and those who are involved in the measurement and reporting of
the health and safety in occupation.
Recommendation
On the basis of above discussion of issues related to measurement and reporting of health
and safety in relation with work. This issue are concerned with effectiveness and efficiency of
the measurement and reporting. Later advantages and disadvantages of the measurement and
reporting of health and safety were also discussed Nadeau & Morency, (2017). On the basis of
analysis some of the recommendations for the management of Air New Zealand are as follows-
Considering qualitative aspects of health and safety measurement
This means that in measurement of health and safety of performance of organisation Air
New Zealand should focus on the qualitative aspects of the measurement. This means that in
discussed performance measurement injuries, incidences and quantitative data has been
considered. In measurement of health and safety related to work Air New Zealand should focus
on qualitative data as well. This means organisation and management of Air New Zealand should

ask opinions of workers who are involved in activities that are potential to injuries. This will
allow more qualitative data and their experiences related to day to day working will enhance
decisions taken by the management of Air New Zealand. This will enhance and improve
performance of Air New Zealand in relation with work related health and safety. This is because
employees working with potential threat to safety can inform better about what the factor that
create threat are and subsequently how they have managed to prevent the injuries and incidences.
Along with asking and collecting data from those who have sustained injuries regarding what
cause the injuries and became reason for incidences.
Occupational health and safety should be day to day control
This means that in order to enhance performance of the organisation in relation with
work-related health and safety organisation should consider in their day to day control system. It
is recommended that safety and health performance and control is involved in regular control
activities of Air New Zealand. This will reduce the potential threat to health and safety to a great
extent and will improve health and safety performance of the organisation Blain, (2017).
However it is important that health and safety performance is periodically measured and reported
but it is not necessary that they are also managed periodically. Regular and day to management
of health and safety will enhance and improve periodic performance measurement and reporting
in relation with health and safety performance of Air New Zealand. This will also help in
improving overall performance of the organisation and will enhance productivity.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that health and safety is an
importance concept and important activity that is required to be undertaken by the organisation.
However, in relation with health and safety measurement and reporting of health and safety plays
very important role in improving overall performance of health and safety of the organisation.
This is because measurement and reporting of health and safety performance of the organisation
allows identifying and understanding what the drawbacks in the performance are. There are
several ways through which organisation can identify and subsequently make decisions and
strategies to remove potential for injuries and prevent incidences. This discussion was in relation
with Air New Zealand and this is why health and safety is more than a legal obligation and

employee safety is a important element for customer satisfaction. This report later also discussed
some of the advantages and disadvantages of the health and safety performance and
measurement and reporting of work related health and safety. Later some of the
recommendations were also discussed for management of Air New Zealand.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Amponsah-Tawiah, K., & Mensah, J. (2016). Occupational health and safety and organizational
commitment: Evidence from the Ghanaian mining industry. Safety and health at
work. 7(3). 225-230.
Bianchini, A and et.al., (2017). An innovative methodology for measuring the effective
implementation of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System in the
European Union. Safety science. 92. 26-33.
Blain, A. N. J. (2017). Pilots and management: Industrial relations in the UK Airlines (Vol. 16).
Routledge.
Cerqueira, D., Carvalho, F., & Melo, R. B. (2017, July). Is It Smart to Use smartphones to
measure illuminance for occupational Health and Safety Purposes?. In International
Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 258-268). Springer, Cham.
Dejanović, D., & Heleta, M. (2016). An airport occupational health and safety management
system from the OHSAS 18001 perspective. International Journal of Occupational
Safety and Ergonomics. 22(3). 439-447.
Evangelinos, K and et.al., (2018). Occupational health and safety disclosures in sustainability
reports: An overview of trends among corporate leaders. Corporate Social
Responsibility and Environmental Management. 25(5). 961-970.
Haas, E. J., & Yorio, P. (2016). Exploring the state of health and safety management system
performance measurement in mining organizations. Safety science. 83. 48-58.
Melin, M., Lager, E., & Lindfors, P. (2018). High-Flying Risks: Variations in Working
Conditions, Health, and Safety Behaviours among Commercial Airline Pilots in
Relation to Safety Climate Perceptions. In 13th European Academy of Occupational
Health Psychology Conference 2018, Lisbon, Portugal, September 5-7, 2018 (pp. 243-
244). European Academy of Occupational Health Psychology.
Mohammadfam, I and et.al., (2017). Evaluation of the quality of occupational health and safety
management systems based on key performance indicators in certified
organizations. Safety and health at work. 8(2). 156-161.
Nadeau, S., & Morency, F. (2017). De-icing of aircraft: incorporating business risks and
occupational health and safety.
Shea, T and et.al., (2016). Leading indicators of occupational health and safety: An employee
and workplace level validation study. Safety science. 85. 293-304.
Wu, A. C and et.al., (2016). Airplane pilot mental health and suicidal thoughts: a cross-sectional
descriptive study via anonymous web-based survey. Environmental health. 15(1). 121.