Identification of safety indicators in the manufacturing industry in Republic of North Macedonia and their impact on the occupational injury lost time

Abstract

The European Union's regulations on occupational safety and health originate from the European Framework Directive 89/391/EEC (Council Directive of 12 June 1989), in which the main aim is to introduce preventive measures which will promote awareness through specific activities for enhancing the occupational safety and health of employees in the workplace, guided by general principles for prevention of the occupational risks. The Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia, in particular Article 32, paragraph 1, clearly states that "Everyone has the right to work, free choice of employment, safety at work and material security during temporary unemployment". The focus in the research is to contribute for reducing the lost working time in the companies of the manufacturing industry, as a result of occupational injuries and to increase the employee productivity and competitive advantage through devel-opment of safe working environment. The identification of the safety indicators is based on the analysis of existing scientific and research literary sources, OSH legislation in Republic of North Macedonia and Delphi expert’s assessment. The final result of the research is a developed methodology with structure of 50 iden-tified safety indicators, divided into 14 groups. Each indicator is defined by a weight factor rated by the expert group based on its impact on reducing the time lost by the occupational injuries. The safety indicators are identified with the ap-plication of the scientific method Delphi by reaching consensus of 32 occupation-al safety experts in two Delphi iterations.