A strategic safety management framework through balanced scorecard and quality function deployment Murat Gunduz and Burak Simsek Abstract: The aim of this paper is to propose a safety management framework for construction companies. A literature review was carried out to identify significant factors that would improve safety performance. Two management tools— namely, the balanced scorecard and quality function deployment (QFD)—were used to construct the framework. Strategic goals were established for each of the following perspectives of the balanced scorecard: financial and cultural, employee, process, and learning. Afterwards, a questionnaire was prepared using the QFD approach. The goals in the financial and cultural perspective were defined as the safety-related needs of the organization (“customer requirements” in the original QFD approach); and the goals in the remaining perspectives included the actions that the organization could take to meet its needs. Results of the questionnaire were used to set the final strategic goals in the balanced scorecard. Safety performance measures and initiatives were used to accomplish the goals in the balanced scorecard. Key words: safety management, balanced scorecard, quality function deployment. Résumé : Cet article propose un cadre de gestion de la sécurité pour les compagnies de construction. Une revue de la littérature a tout d’abord été réalisée afin d’identifier les facteurs significatifs qui pourraient améliorer la sécurité. Puis, deux outils de gestion ont été utilisés pour la présente étude, dont le tableau de bord équilibré et le déploiement de la fonction qualité. Des objectifs stratégiques ont été établis pour chaque aspect du tableau de bord équilibré : financier et culturel, les employés, les procédés ainsi que l’apprentissage et la croissance. Par après, un questionnaire a été préparé en utilisant l’approche du déploiement de la fonction qualité. Les objectifs financiers et culturels ont été définis comme étant les besoins reliés à la sécurité (« exigences des clients » dans l’approche initiale du déploiement de la fonction qualité) et les objectifs des autres aspects comprenaient les actions que l’organisation pourrait prendre afin de répondre à ses besoins. Les résultats ont été utilisés pour déterminer les objectifs stratégiques finaux dans le tableau de bord équilibré. Les mesures et les initiatives de sécurité ont été utilisées pour réaliser les objectifs du tableau de bord équilibré. Mots-clés : gestion de la sécurité, tableau de bord équilibré, déploiement de la fonction qualité. [Traduit par la Rédaction] Gunduz and Simsek 630 Introduction The construction industry is one of the most dangerous sectors in Turkey. In the past 10 years, more than 9000 people have died from injuries received during construction work. Many more have been injured or have contracted illnesses related to construction work. Moreover, work injuries can turn out to be a significant cost for construction companies. In addition to direct costs, such as legal penalties, companies may incur indirect or hidden costs, such as the cost of replacing an employee or training a new one during the injured worker’s recovery period, reduced productivity of the crew, overtime to make up for lost productivity, and pos- sible project delays. This paper proposes a safety management framework (Fig. 1) that can be used by construction companies. Two manage- ment tools—the balanced scorecard and quality function deployment (QFD)—were used to construct this framework. The balanced scorecard provides a medium for translating a vision into a clear set of objectives. These objectives are then further translated into a system of performance mea- surements that effectively communicate a powerful, forward- looking, strategic focus on the entire organization. QFD is a process for determining customer requirements and translat- ing these requirements into product attributes that each func- tional area can understand and act on. The process involves constructing one or more matrices through which the cus- tomer perspective is converted into a product or process how-to. A product how-to is a set of pre-defined activities to achieve customer needs. The study combines these two tools in a questionnaire to identify the needs of the construction industry and current safety management practices. Construc- tion companies can use this framework to establish their mission and vision statements related to safety management and to continually establish measures of program perfor- mance. An industry analysis of safety issues, which was based on the vision and mission of the construction industry, was con- ducted. Strategic goals were set for the following perspec- tives of the balanced scorecard: financial and cultural, Can. J. Civ. Eng. 34: 622–630 (2007) doi:10.1139/L06-163 © 2007 NRC Canada 622 Received 17 May 2006. Revision accepted 4 November 2006. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at cjce.nrc.ca on 20 June 2007. M. Gunduz. 1 Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara 06531, Turkey. B. Simsek. Corporate Credit Assessment, HSBC Bank, Istanbul 34398, Turkey. Written discussion of this article is welcomed and will be received by the Editor until 30 September 2007. 1 Corresponding author (e-mail: gunduzm@metu.edu.tr).