The complexity of health and safety management issues is increasing, as well as the related information flows. This motivates the current interest in occupational health and safety management software packages and the forecast of strong growth for their market. However, to the best of our knowledge, reliable and validated methods and tools to support the selection of the most suitable occupational health and safety management software are not available in the literature. For this reason, we propose a multicriteria method in order to help decision-makers select the best health and safety software package among a set of available alternatives, considering multiple potentially conflicting factors. The method is based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is widely used to support information systems selection. The elements, i.e. factors important for the selection, were identified and arranged into a hierarchic structure. The hierarchy consists of a Goal and three levels of elements (4 Strategic Criteria, 11 Criteria, and 12 Sub-criteria) related to health and safety aspects, costs, complexity and technical features, and others. This paper describes the proposed method and the results of an implementation case study in an Italian manufacturing firm. The case study proved the applicability of the method; furthermore, it tested its effectiveness in supporting CEOs and safety managers during the software selection process. Further implementation case studies are required in order to validate the effectiveness of the method in other contexts.
Selection of occupational health and safety management software using analytic hierarchy process
MARCIANO, Filippo;COCCA, Paola;STEFANA, Elena;ALBERTI, Marco
2016-01-01
Abstract
The complexity of health and safety management issues is increasing, as well as the related information flows. This motivates the current interest in occupational health and safety management software packages and the forecast of strong growth for their market. However, to the best of our knowledge, reliable and validated methods and tools to support the selection of the most suitable occupational health and safety management software are not available in the literature. For this reason, we propose a multicriteria method in order to help decision-makers select the best health and safety software package among a set of available alternatives, considering multiple potentially conflicting factors. The method is based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is widely used to support information systems selection. The elements, i.e. factors important for the selection, were identified and arranged into a hierarchic structure. The hierarchy consists of a Goal and three levels of elements (4 Strategic Criteria, 11 Criteria, and 12 Sub-criteria) related to health and safety aspects, costs, complexity and technical features, and others. This paper describes the proposed method and the results of an implementation case study in an Italian manufacturing firm. The case study proved the applicability of the method; furthermore, it tested its effectiveness in supporting CEOs and safety managers during the software selection process. Further implementation case studies are required in order to validate the effectiveness of the method in other contexts.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
