Practices and challenges of safety management in outsourced facilities management

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dc.contributor.authorPilbeam, Colin
dc.date.accessioned2024-06-27T14:06:11Z
dc.date.available2024-06-27T14:06:11Z
dc.date.issued2024-06-24
dc.description.abstractIntroduction: Outsourcing is a commonly occurring organizational activity, but one associated with negative occupational safety outcomes. Improving the management of safety in workplaces where contractors are employed is vital, but under-researched in the service sectors. The aims of this paper were to investigate both the practices and challenges of safety management in outsourced facility management (FM), an important global service sector. Method: Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with clients and contractors in three different FM outsourcing arrangements between large corporations in the UK. Data were thematically coded against frameworks derived from existing literature to identify deployed safety management practices and reveal challenges associated with safety management in these outsourced relationships. Results: Safety management practices in outsourced FM conformed to known practices clustering into four previously identified categories (planning, selecting, on-site working, and checking). A fifth category (reviewing) was not observed. Operating across national boundaries, applying national contracts locally, working with mandated KPIs, and contract specifications all created new challenges for safety management not previously reported. Other known challenges associated with economic pressure and disorganization were observed. Conclusion: Safety management practices observed in safety critical industries also apply in FM. However, the challenges of safety management in these three cases included regulatory failures that have not been routinely identified in other empirical studies of safety in outsourcing arrangements. Practical application: Adopting widely accepted safety management practices support safer working in outsourced FM and encourage cross-sector learning. New challenges for safety management noted here encourage consideration of unintended consequences of contract terms and conditions, require corporate agreement on how to ensure safety compliance when working transnationally, and a review of decision-making and processes and procedures to enable effective and safe working locally.en_UK
dc.description.sponsorshipInstitution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), UKen_UK
dc.identifier.citationPilbeam C. (2024) Practices and challenges of safety management in outsourced facilities management. Journal of Safety Research, Volume 90, September 2024, pp. 144-162en_UK
dc.identifier.eissn1879-1247
dc.identifier.issn0022-4375
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2024.06.011
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/22571
dc.language.isoen_UKen_UK
dc.publisherElsevieren_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subjectContractoren_UK
dc.subjectOutsourcingen_UK
dc.subjectHealth and safetyen_UK
dc.subjectFacility managementen_UK
dc.subjectSafety management systemen_UK
dc.titlePractices and challenges of safety management in outsourced facilities managementen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK
dcterms.dateAccepted2024-06-14

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