A participative management approach for the improvement of a safety culture in the forestry industry

Abstract

The forestry industry is one of the key contributing industries toward gross domestic product (GDP), as well as one of the most successful exporting industries in South Africa. Overall, the forestry industry has a significant economic, community and environmental impact in South Africa. The industry employs almost 157 000 people, has various and significant community engagement and upliftment projects, and is also considered to be one of the most sustainable industries in South Africa. Based on the literature, participative management has been recognised as a management style that actively promotes workforce involvement in areas such as decision-making and communication. Safety culture is considered to be a good reflection of the state of safety within an organisation at any point in time, where it has been argued that workforce involvement is one of the key elements in promoting a positive safety culture. Therefore, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of participative management on the safety culture of contract workers in the forestry industry of South Africa. In doing so, it identifies the benefits that a more involved approach to the management of safety has in the forestry industry. There is a definite need to improve the overall management of safety in South Africa, particularly among workers who operate in high-risk environments. The evidence in this study provides concerning injury and fatality statistics, particularly in the mining and construction industries of South Africa. However, the forestry industry is a shining light in this regard which is also supported by the results of this study. The sample used in this study included forestry workers from the Mpumalanga Province, male and female, who participate in operational activities (OHS in particular) in the forestry industry. To obtain this sample a combination of non-probability convenience and judgemental sampling was used. To gather the data for this study a quantitative research strategy was used. Consequently, a combination of an exploratory and descriptive research design was adopted. This study involved the collection of data through a combination of the self-administered survey method and structured interview method, thus incorporating the mixed-mode survey method, and feedback was obtained from 280 respondents. The survey data were analysed by the Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University’s Potchefstroom Campus to look for relationships between the dimensions of participative management and safety culture. The results of this study show a significant positive association between participative management and safety culture. It, therefore, supports the theory that a more involved approach by management towards safety can lead to an improvement in the safety culture of workers in the iv forestry industry. According to the researcher’s knowledge at present, this is the first study to show the effect of participative management on safety culture in the forestry industry, which also contributes to developing literature by further extending the knowledge on how safety is managed in high-risk environments. Based on the results it is recommended that senior management in the forestry industry as well as the owners of contracting companies working in the forestry industry, look at improving their involvement in the leadership, motivation, communication, decision-making, goal setting and control of safety, as this will possibly lead to the improvement in the knowledge, compliance, attitude, and participation of forestry workers towards safety. Suggestions for future research include conducting the same study in other high-risk industries such as construction and mining and also obtaining the viewpoint from senior management, as this study focused on the view of forestry workers.