Occupational safety knowledge management in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia

Abstract

This article elaborates the characteristics of knowledge management in the context of occupational safety and presents the results of research based on the assumption that there is a link between knowledge management and occupational safety performance, and that knowledge management can help in improving occupational safety performance. The research involved 645 occupational safety experts from three Balkan countries (Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia). The results showed that the knowledge management in the organization is related to all of the observed aspects of occupational safety performance: number of work-related injuries within the organization; number of lost working days due to injuries; costs caused by work-related injuries and occupational diseases; financial investments in occupational safety; assessment of the state of occupational safety. The practical implications of the article can be seen in the context of meeting the educational needs for continuous learning and improvement of knowledge/lifelong learning in the field of occupational safety.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge management
• occupational safety
• Balkan countries

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplemental data and research materials

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://osf.io/vrf2k/?view_only=b5ad74c55c1d454bb6a647f1ae40dcd8

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the OSF repository at https://osf.io/vrf2k/?view_only=d0acf981aecc49569317200cd0a407ef

Notes

1 Knowledge exchange is a process that connects the individual and the organization, where knowledge reaches its economic, competitive value. In the literature, the processes of knowledge exchange are presented through various mechanisms. Technologies such as email, digital repositories, intranet portals and instant communication software, and structures such as brokerage knowledge, multidisciplinary teams and community practices, are often used to help individuals share their knowledge [19].

2 Such communities involve close cooperation between community members in the exchange of tacit knowledge and they may exist within a single organization or an organizational unit, or may cover several organizations. Unfortunately, research is still lacking on the impact of the concept of CoPs on improving OSH performance [42,43].