Disclosures of Occupational Health and Safety Performance Indicators: A Perspective from South African Listed Companies

Employers in South Africa are mandated by labour laws to implement systems of work for the maintenance and promotion of health and safety at work. In response, companies have adopted and implemented occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMSs) whose effectiveness should be continuously monitored through performance measurement. However, there remains no national convention on the specific performance measurement indicators for companies to use. The objective of this study was to determine, characterise and compare lagging indicators adopted and reported by the top 150 Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed companies in South Africa. This qualitative study evaluated annual reports and data books from these companies by analysing textual data through qualitative document analysis. Only 87 of the 150 case companies reported performance using lagging indicators. The basic materials, consumer goods, consumer services and industrial sectors had the most companies which reported performance metrics. Fatality count and lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) were the most commonly reported performance metrics and were reported by 64 and 41 companies, respectively. There was variation in the number, type and form of adopted lagging indicators by the case companies. Companies in the manufacturing and mining sectors were more likely to report OHS performance, in general, than those in other sectors. The observed variation across sectors emphasises the need for harmonised indicators to measure and report OHS performance in South Africa.