Publications

Silva, S.A., Oliveira, M.J., Carvalho, H., Jacinto, C., Fialho, T. and Guedes Soares, C. (2017), “Organizational Practices for learning with work accidents throughout their information cycle”, Safety Science, Vol. 99, pp. 102-114

Research has acknowledged the relevance of accident information for prevention and learning and the need for companies to develop a reporting and learning culture. Few studies approached this issue comparing different learning strategies used by companies. This study aims to explore how companies use accident information and develop strategies for learning with accidents, covering all the learning cycle phases by, a) identifying learning patterns across companies and across activity sectors, b) checking for differences among certified and non-certified companies. Seventeen case studies were conducted with organizations operating in Portugal in different activity sectors. Data was collected using long semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and document analysis. All data was subjected to descriptive analysis, followed by multivariate analysis through with Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). The main MCA results showed two dimensions corresponding to the technical and social learning and four patterns were found, each corresponding to different levels of learning practices ranging from minimal practices used for learning to a high degree of learning, combining practices of a technical and social nature. Additionally, the results revealed that companies in the same activity sector can have very different practices, independently of the existence of OHSAS certification. The results allowed concluding that organizations with good safety practices tend to follow the learning cycle. Overall, these organizations have established procedures to report accidents and to collect information on them but there are organizations that still do not maximize the means of learning with work accidents.

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