2020 Volume 13 Issue 1 Pages 65-78
Effects of the introduction and establishment of the occupational safety and health management system (OSHMS) on work-related accident rates were investigated in local government workplaces during seventeen years. Risk assessment was carried out in a participatory manner in these workplaces. The average work-related accident rates were calculated for blue-collar and white-collar workplaces over three periods: before OSHMS introduction (2002-2006), during OSHMS introduction (2007-2011), and the period of OSHMS establishment (2012-2018) in which the OSHMS achievement degree exceeded 90% in all the evaluation axes of the occupational safety and health activities evaluation worksheet. The accident rates at the white-collar or clerical workplaces were lower than the blue-collar workplaces before OSHMS introduction. There was no significant reduction in work-related accidents during the introduction and establishment of OSHMS. Conversely, accident rates noticeably reduced with the introduction and establishment of OSHMS in blue-collar workplaces, such as garbage collection sites, school lunch kitchens, or hospitals etc. During the establishment period, the average rate of accidents was significantly lower than the national average in blue collar local government workplaces ( p<0.01). It was indicated that work-related accidents were reduced by the in troduction and establishment of OSHMS in blue-collar local government workplaces.
