Senior management is obligated to prevent work-related injuries, ill health, and the safety of the natural environment, society, and future generations. In other words, one of the most important duties of a leader of an organisation is creating a safety culture, which depends on his/her leadership approach as a major indicator of safety performance. The study thus aimed to assess different leadership approaches to implementing a safety culture in a chemical manufacturing processing organisation in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study gathered qualitative data through interviews with 12 participants (managers and subordinates). Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that subordinates preferred a transformational leadership approach, whereas managers preferred a transactional leadership approach. Leaders should be aware of the impact of their leadership approach in terms of formulating and implementing safety policies.
TopIntroduction
In the chemical manufacturing industry, process safety, which is the prevention of accidents in chemical processing facilities, is a priority. However, although incidents are infrequent occurrences, when they do occur, they often involve devastating consequences (Wang, Henriksen, Deo, & Mentzer, 2021). These consequences include an ability to contain hazardous substances, criminal charges, damage to a company’s reputation, serious financial implications and a far-reaching impact on staff, the facility, the environment and sometimes, the nearby community (Ismail, Kong, Othman, Law, Khoo, Ong & Shirazi, 2014; Wang et al., 2021).
Often, workers’ unsafe practices or violations of safety procedures result in incidents (George & Renjith, 2021; Min, Yexiang, Tang, Weilina & Jiajie, 2020). George and Renjith (2021) note that process industries which handle hazardous substances at high temperatures and pressure always present a major safety concern. However, it is the responsibility of the industry to reduce the occurrence of events resulting in incidents (George & Renjith, 2021).
Everyone in the organisation, especially leaders, need to play a crucial role in ensuring a safety culture and safety performance in an organisation. However, the leadership approach of the manager could be the greatest determinant of organisational safety. A study by Khan, Ahmad and Ilyas (2018) suggests that an ethical leadership style, which concentrates on moral factors, will guarantee determining effective health and safety policies and procedures; provide employees with the required training; communicate the required performance standards and establish a safety culture.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), globally, an average of 6000 people pass away owing to work-related accidents or diseases per day resulting in more than 2.2 million work-related deaths annually (ILO, 2005). Additionally, of the more than 2.2 million work-related deaths, approximately 350 000 are from accidents at work.
The Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) reports that work-related accidents result in both human and economic loss, which for the year 2003, amounted to approximately 170 billion dollars in the United States alone (CDC, 2007). Although a few studies are reporting on these statistics in South Africa (Hedlund, 2013), work-related incidents remain problematic.
According to Vekinis, Kielkowski, Wilson and Rees (2010), in the construction industry alone, fatalities reported in the United States and in the United Kingdom between the period 2004 and 2006 were three times lower and eight times lower than the fatalities that were reported in South Africa in that period. Although there is insufficient literature on work-related incidents in the chemical processing industry in South Africa, Mabele and Hoque (2020) maintain that there are a variety of indicators contributing to the occurrence and re-occurrence of accidents in the workplace and that the safety climate and culture are the leading indicators.
The literature provides many definitions of a safety culture, although there is not a generally accepted one. A culture of safety can be regarded too as that component of the organisational culture (Jumbe & Gerwel Proches, 2016). Mabele and Hoque (2020) maintain that the UK Health and Safety Commission defines safety culture as “the product of individual and group perceptions, values, competencies, attitudes and patterns of actions that determine the level of commitment to, proficiency in and style of an organisation’s safety and health management”. Safety culture is the part of organisational culture that addresses errors and risk management and requires urgent attention in an organisation (Kalteh, Salesi, Cousins, & Mokarami, 2020; Mabele & Hoque, 2020).