Towards safety, hygiene and environmental (SHE) management in African small and medium companies

V Meite, Jan Baeyens, R Dewil

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Although Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) principles are adhered to in companies of developed countries, the application in developing countries is at its infant stage, as shown by the present article where the authors surveyed SHE Practice in 242 companies of 8 West-African countries. The survey demonstrated that (i) the overall performances are poor, although significant improvement can be achieved with a minimum of goodwill and management support; (ii) despite financial difficulties faced by small and medium enterprises (SME), SHE management is a must and should start with a pollution prevention program that will vary with individual needs but some conscious planning effort is always necessary; (iii) it is necessary to prepare for appropriate actions for pollution abatement, adapted to the existing and future production facilities. Although the recorded results are rather poor, there are obviously many possibilities of improvement, with a little goodwill of the SME managers and supervisors. Reaching a standard level of the environmental management is a long but an important process.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1463-1468
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Environmental Management
Volume90
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2009

Keywords

  • Environment
  • Safety
  • Hygiene
  • West-Africa
  • SME

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