Implementing Quality and Health/Safety Systems in the Hospitality Industry. A Comparison with the Aluminium Industry in Norway

Abstract

This paper discusses mechanisms facilitating the implementation and merging of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management and Quality Management Systems (QMS) in the hospitality industry in Norway. An earlier study concluded that combining a quality system of food control with regulation of OHS seems to be a healthy recipe for the hospitality industry in Norway (Lindøe & Lie, 2002). This study goes a step further by addressing issues regarding the industrial context, industrial relations and active participation from all stakeholders. By comparing the implementation of QMS and OHS-management with the process in the aluminium industry what seems to be lacking in the hospitality industry is an implementation process rooted in the workforce where workers and safety representatives act as constructive and critical stakeholders. In booth industries issues concerning quality will to a large extent be managed through market signals, whereas health and safety issues still need to be regulated and supported by the authorities due to lack of market influence. If the OHS-management is not to be institutionalized among the stakeholders in the hospitality sector there is a risk of degenerating from a healthy and dynamic participatory process to a bureaucratic management tool.