Safety Climate in Project-Based Organizations: Multi-Criteria Analysis

Nenad Milijić; Anđelka Stojanović; Ivan Mihajlović; Ivan Jovanović; Momir Popović

doi:10.7595/management.fon.2020.0026

Nenad Milijić University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia
Anđelka Stojanović University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia
Ivan Mihajlović University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia
Ivan Jovanović University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia
Momir Popović University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7595/management.fon.2020.0026

Abstract

Research Question: The aim of this paper is to determine the factors influencing safety climate in different industrial sectors in project-based organizations. Motivation: Systematic research on occupational safety is not so frequent in the Republic of Serbia. The lack of research that deals with safety climate in project-based organizations exploring the attitudes of employees in different industrial sectors is evident. In the research conducted by Milijic et al., (2013) a model for measuring safety climate factors was proposed and the following step is to identify the most important safety climate issues for each industrial sector as a key to fostering better safety performance. Chen et al. (2018a) concluded that engagement at all levels of the company is essential to fostering better safety performances as well as that safety awareness is the most important factor influencing workers' safety efficiency. The authors of the present paper seek those particular factors that adequately describe safety climate in project-based organizations by examining the attitudes of workers in different industrial sectors. Idea: The main idea of this paper is to evaluate and rank safety climate in different industrial sectors and different workplaces considering the following five factors of safety climate: Safety and competence awareness, Occupational safety management commitment, Safety training and tools, Safety practices and procedures and Organizational environment. Data: Safety climate analysis was conducted on a set of data collected as a part of a survey carried out in eleven project-oriented organizations operating in different industrial sectors on the territory of Serbia. Tools: This paper proposes a multi-criteria analysis of the data collected from a national survey using the Entropy-PROMETHEE-GAIA method. Findings: A complete ranking of safety climate in project-oriented organizations based on the opinions of employees in different industrial sectors resulted in Energy as the best-ranked sector. On the other hand, the worst-ranked sector is High-rise construction. The results of the complete ranking of safety climate in project-oriented organizations based on the opinions of employees at different workplaces in different industrial sectors showed that the best-ranked alternatives were manager working places. When it comes to production workers on projects, the most favorable safety climate is in energy workplaces and for non-productive workers, while the most favorable safety climate is on projects in the field of mechanical engineering. Contribution: Adopting the conclusions from the paper can, in practice, improve safety climate along with safety at work in project-based organizations.

Author Biographies

Nenad Milijić, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Nenad Milijić, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Engineering Management Department. His main research interests include manufacturing management, occupational safety, project management and application of quantitative methods in management. He is the author or co-author of two books, three chapters in monographs, and over 80 papers published in scientific journals and at scientific conferences.

Anđelka Stojanović, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Anđelka Stojanović, MSc, is a teaching assistant at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Engineering Management Department. She graduated and completed her master studies at the Technical Faculty in Bor, University of Belgrade. Currently, she is a PhD student at the same university. She teaches the following courses: Decision Making Theory, Reliability Theory, Logistics, and Theoretical Fundamentals of the Master Work Preparation. The areas of her research interest and competence are multi-criteria decision-making methods, statistical analysis, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable development.

Ivan Mihajlović, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Ivan Mihajlović, PhD, is a full professor at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Engineering Management Department. He teaches the following courses: Production Management, System Theory, Logistics and Operational Management. Currently, the main focus is on exploring and solving problems related to operational management with the application of methods of linear and nonlinear statistical analysis, kinetic analysis of technological processes and ecological management. He is the author or co-author of four books, five chapters in monographs, and over 120 papers published in international and national scientific journals.

Ivan Jovanović, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Ivan Jovanović, PhD, is a full professor at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Engineering Management Department. He teaches the following courses: Entrepreneurship, Reliability Theory, Operational Research 2, Knowledge Management. He is the author or co-author of 7 books, four chapters in monographs, and over 100 papers published in scientific journals and at scientific conferences.

Momir Popović, University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Serbia

Momir Popović, MSc, is a teaching assistant at the University of Belgrade, Technical Faculty in Bor, Engineering Management Department. He has completed his undergraduate and master academic studies at the same University. Currently, he is a PhD student at Technical Faculty in Bor, University of Belgrade. He is a teaching assistant at the following courses: Project Management, Decision Theory, Production Management, Reliability Theory and Management Information Systems.

Safety Climate in Project-Based Organizations: Multi-Criteria Analysis

Abstract

Author Biographies

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