Do the Different Forms of Outsourcing Affect the Management of Safety? A Comparative Case Study in a Single Organization

Outsourcing is a globally significant practice that takes different forms. Although there are practitioner guidelines for managing safety in outsourcing relationships, these are generic and fail to account for different forms of outsourcing and how the management of safety might be different in each. Adopting an embedded case design, this study investigates the safety management practices in three different forms of outsourcing occurring in a single organization, a UK division of a global mechanical electrical engineering company. Data from 24 interviews with employees from both clients and contractors across the three subcases revealed 10 different safety management practices (selection and recruitment, induction, preparing risk assessment and method statements, permits to work, verbal and written communication, monitoring, auditing, reporting, and reviewing) that mapped onto the practitioner guidance. This overall similarity may be accounted for by three isomorphic pressures. However, different practices were emphasized in each of the three forms of outsourcing. Monitoring and auditing were prominent where entire functions were outsourced. Risk assessments, method statements, and permits to work were used when particular tasks were outsourced. Required skills were stipulated when agency workers were employed. These differences may reflect three different ways to coordinate and control work safely in these relationships.