Occupational health and safety management systems: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

This study aimed to support researchers’ reflective analysis and to identify unexplored topics as possibilities for future research with practical importance about occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMSs). The paper investigates OHSMSs literature by assessing the development of the field and identifying evolution patterns and gaps. With a qualitative approach, this systematic review was developed with the adoption of bibliographic procedures and action research. The intervention instrument ProKnow-C, a structured process guided by the constructivist perspective, was used. 3,130 studies were analyzed. Based on the results, the paper identified prolific authors and the most studied economic sectors. The evolution of safety management systems goals is explained and the evolutionary movement of the systems is compared to Bititci´s. A literature map was illustrated to show the frequency that the aspects related to OHSMSs are being explored. It indicates that integrated systems and ergonomic aspects are the most discussed topics. Furthermore, there is a shortage of longitudinal studies. It is noteworthy to mention that ergonomic indicators are being introduced into OHSMSs and their correlation is a promising topic to be explored. The use of data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning has grown significantly and quickly and has contributed to the evolution of the area. We conclude that developing OHSMS by respecting the decision maker's knowledge throughout the process, incorporating ergonomic aspects and using AI methods is a challenge that will contribute to the advancement of OHSMSs.