View article

While it has been established for many years that the management of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is carried out by means of Management Systems, the question of how to measure the performance and the control of these systems is still current. This article addresses this problem, and discusses the contribution of the use of Balanced Scorecards.

Management Systems are the combination of many interacting processes, which are usually the result of standards implementation (OHSAS 18001, ILO, etc.). These processes are generally organized along the same lines; the logic being one of continuous improvement. Traditionally, performance indicators have been used to measure the performance of Management Systems: the frequency and severity of absences due to sickness, and work-related diseases. These traditional, retrospective indicators have several constraints and limitations. First, they are …