The development of manufacturing safety programme simulator

Purpose – The manufacturing industry perceives government standards as an attempt to unnecessarily increase production cost. This may be due to lack of acceptable models for demonstrating the associated benefits to industry. It was the goal of this study to develop a simulation model for predicting the performance of a manufacturing safety programme (SP).Design/methodology/approach – The principles of system‐dynamics were applied to identify the relevant safety‐related components and their relationships. A simulation model for evaluating periodic performance of a manufacturing SP was then developed. A set a dynamic equations for predicting factory accidents or preventions and the monetary saving were the performance measures. Two set of factory data: non‐SP (1979) and SP (1991‐2004) were collected from a bottling company. The parameters of the model were estimated using the first set while it was validated with the second and associated monetary saving computed.Findings – Solutions to factory accidents or...