Causes of Near Miss and Minor Operating Incidents at Selected Chemical Organisations in Durban and Their Impact on Key Functional Areas
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CAUSES OF NEAR MISS AND MINOR OPERATING INCIDENTS AT SELECTED CHEMICAL ORGANISATIONS IN DURBAN AND THEIR IMPACT ON KEY FUNCTIONAL AREAS. Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology in Business Administration Entrepreneurial Studies & Management Department In the faculty of Management Sciences At the Durban University of Technology Dan Nayager March 2015 PROMOTER: Dr Marie de Beer CAUSES OF NEAR MISS AND MINOR OPERATING INCIDENTS AT SELECTED CHEMICAL ORGANISATIONS IN DURBAN AND THEIR IMPACT ON KEY FUNCTIONAL AREAS. by Dan Nayager Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Technology in Business Administration Entrepreneurial Studies & Management Department In the faculty of Management Sciences At the Durban University of Technology March 2015 Approved for final submission Promoter:……………………….. ……………………. Dr Marie de Beer: MComm.; Ph.D. Date DECLARATION I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the work contained in this thesis is my own original work, and that I have not previously, in its entirety or part, submitted it to any university for a degree. ………………………… 06th March 2015 DRT Nayager i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the following persons and institution: - Dr Marie De Beer, promoterfor her time, support, guidance and encouragement from inception to completion of this study. - Ms Gill Hendry for the professional analysis of all the research data. - Mrs Helen Richter for the support and assistance in editingthe research. - The Durban University of Technology for the financial assistance and opportunity. ii Dedication All things are possible through God Almighty ”Na Ma Si Vaa Ya” This study is dedicated to the special people in my life To my family, especially my wife Ragani and daughter Shimona, for their never-ending encouragement, love and support throughout the long days and nights of my academic pursuit. In the memory of my late parents, Mr and Mrs Kid Nayager. May your souls rest in eternal peace.I am grateful for your inspiration in the pursuit of knowledge and my standing in life today. I still remember clearly, my dad said, “I have no money to give you, but only the education that I can afford so that you may find your rightful place in society”. I thank you daily for your sacrifice. iii ABSTRACT Near miss and minor incidents (NM&MI) have escalated into major global worst case disaster scenarios and have shut down organisations. The BP oil rig spill (Deepwater Horizon) in the Gulf of Mexico and the tsunami and nuclear disasters in Japan. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the impact of near miss and minor incidents on safety in the workplace. On review of global literature espically in the chemical sector, it was found that research of this nature is limited due to NM&MI being regarded as a nuisance factor and given less importance. Generally major incidents are investigated more extensively. There were two sets of data used for the research, an employee survey and NM&MI databases. The employee survey was obtained through the use of questionnaires and the NM&MI databases were obtained from the organisations’ incident databases reports. The representative sample of 349 respondents was surveyed, of a total of 950 supervisors, managers and workers, with the resultant response rate being 95 percent. The research findings showed an extremely high NM&MI rate for the sampled organisations. Management commitment was evident but was reactive rather than being proactive and there were major differences in the perceptions of safety, health and environmental approaches. On analysing the NM&MI, including the financial losses incurred, it was found that NM&MI drastically impacted key functional areas of the organisations. This research on NM&MI can be expanded to all organisations in KwaZulu Natal or South Africa. Quantitative research does have its limitations. Large samples are required, and the logistical difficulties inherent in gathering a sufficiently large sample can sabotage the study before it even gets off the ground. Narrowing sampling to Durban has a limiting effect on the overall thesis. iv The Organisational Methodology tool developed could be used throughout the organisation, from the corporate sectors through to the plants. The economic impact would be astronomical of not sorting NM&MIs on time as was the case in the Bopal disaster which shut down the global operations of Union Carbide. Management can no longer regards NM&MIs as just a nuisance factor but will have to carefully investigate and improve NM&MIs and safety in the workplace. The Organisational Methodology developed in this research will add value to stakeholders in better managing all NM&MIs in the workplace. v Table of Contents Declaration ........................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. ii Dedication ............................................................................................................ iii Abstract ................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................. vi List of Tables ........................................................................................................ x Figures ................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1 Introduction and overview of the study 1.1 Introduction and Background.......................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem statement ......................................................................................... 12 1.3 Main research objective.................................................................................. 13 1.3.1 Sub-objectives....................................................................................... 13 1.3.2 The research questions…………………………………………………..... 14 1.4 Scope and Limitations .................................................................................... 14 1.5 Target population and sample selection ......................................................... 17 1.6Rationale for the study..................................................................................... 17 1.7 Structure of the thesis..................................................................................... 18 1.8 Conclusion...................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 2 Literature review 2.1 A summary of the literature review and motivation for research..................... 20 2.2 The link between safety, near miss and minor operating incidents……………20 2.3 Theory and theoretical framework underpinning this study…………………….23 2.4Typical safety risks and hazards across industries.......................................... 28 2.5 A review of the South African context of safety and it’s management ............ 33 2.6 Occupational Safety and Health Act............................................................... 34 2.7A broad based focus on safety, health, environment and quality ................... 37 vi 2.8 Link between workforce safety and organisational methodology……………...39 2.9 National Occupational Safety Organisation (NOSA)....................................... 45 2.10 International Standards Organisation (ISO) and Total Quality Management (TQM) ............................................................................................. 46 2.11 The History of the Centre for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) .................. 47 2.12 Unique features of the chemical industries with respect to safety risks and hazards ................................................................................................... 51 2.13 The history of incidents/ accidents in the chemical industries in South Africa .................................................................................................................... 54 2.14 Incident/ accident causation models and frameworks .................................. 58 2.15 Social constructivism……………………………………………………………...75 2.16 A review of the questionnaire ....................................................................... 75 2.17 Conclusion.................................................................................................... 81 Chapter 3 Research design and methodology 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 83 3.2 Research framework ...................................................................................... 84 3.3OM development ............................................................................................. 101 3.4International benchmarks and other research done in support and comparison to this research ........................................................................... 102 3.5Conclusion....................................................................................................... 103 Chapter 4 Field work and findings 4.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 105 4.2 Employee surveys .......................................................................................... 106 4.2.1