Who should manage worker safety to reduce occupational accidents?
研究基于欧盟调查数据，发现由业主管理安全会增加事故，而小企业由员工代表、大企业由专职安全官管理更有效，为政策制定者和管理者提供改善工作场所安全的指导。
Purpose Operations management research and practice has started to embrace sustainability in all its forms, including worker safety. Worker safety is a pivotal component of social sustainability, with accidents occurring largely in a firm’s operations. Nevertheless, workplaces are still not safe. To further understand why, we explore how workplace accidents are affected by who manages occupational safety (i.e. owner/partner, managing director/site/branch manager, OHS officer or safety representative), and if this effect is dependent on the size of the establishment. Design/methodology/approach Stakeholder-agency theory is utilized to develop a theoretical framework on the efficacy of having different job roles manage safety in establishments of different sizes. The derived hypotheses are tested using health and safety survey data from the EU-OSHA ESENER I (2014) and ESENER II (2019) surveys. Findings We provide evidence that it is not beneficial to have owners manage safety in establishments. When owners manage safety in establishments, accidents increase, even when controlling for firm size. When exploring size more deeply, we find that in smaller establishments, it is more beneficial to have an employee representative manage safety, while in larger establishments, a dedicated safety officer should be in charge of managing safety. These findings are highly relevant for creating a path towards safer operations. Originality/value This study contributes to our understanding of socially sustainable operations by exploring a path to making workplaces safer. It advances knowledge on how to effectively enhance operational safety. This perspective contributes to the expanding worker safety literature in operations management by introducing organizational job responsibilities as a relevant level of analysis, complementing existing explorations in our domain that have primarily focused on traits of the operations. The findings not only enhance scholarly and managerial knowledge but also offer clear guidance to policymakers for creating safer workplaces.