Abstract:

The Knowledge Creation Model for ISO 9001:2000 conceptualized by Lin and Wu (2005) was used as the premise for determining whether the activities of occupational safety and health committees (OSHCs) in Malaysia; mandated by legislation namely the Occupational Safety and Health (Safety and Health Committee) Regulations 1996 (OSHCR 1996) could be linked to knowledgeable quality information; thus enabling its subsequent transformation into quality information and eventually the acquisition of four types of knowledge assets: routine, experiential, systemic or conceptual. The conceptual analysis permitted an appreciation of this platform for employee involvement as a channel for knowledge creation of the four types in the area of occupational safety and health (OSH). To determine the types of OSHC activities that had not been extensively tapped in pursuit of knowledge creation, survey data from 231 Malaysian manufacturing companies was used. The empirical findings indicated that the following activities with knowledge creation potential were relatively lagging in comparison to the other activities: collecting of general information on safety and health issues, access to reports provided by external experts, access to safety audits, carrying out studies on safety and health at the workplace, access to internal and external experts in determining safety and health issues.