Towards safety, hygiene and environmental (SHE) management in African small and medium companies Vaflahi Meite ´ a, b, * , Jan Baeyens a , Raf Dewil c a Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2 TT, United Kingdom b Centre for the Development of Enterprise, East African Field Office, Liaison House, State House Av., PO Box 49568, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya c Department of Chemical Engineering, Campus De Nayer, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, J. De Nayerlaan 5, B-2860 Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium article info Article history: Received 12 August 2007 Received in revised form 2 September 2008 Accepted 6 October 2008 Available online 3 December 2008 Keywords: Safety Hygiene Environment SME West-Africa 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 environ- mental management is a long but an important process. Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction There is a common though saying that ‘‘Prescription without diagnosis is malpractice’’, whether in medicine or management. The present study aimed to identify the way forward in improving the Safety, Hygiene and Environmental (SHE) management in Small and Medium size Industries (SME) operating in Sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas SHE-principles are generally adhered to in developed countries, the application in developing countries is still at its infant stage. This study sought to identify the exact causes of poor and/or substandard SHE management practices. Thus, to build an evidence base for helping to implement a sound management system where it does not exist or is at an infant stage, or to improve the SHE performance of companies. Whereas safety and hygiene are nor- mally recognised as important targets since involving the welfare of the company staff and operators, the environmental performance of companies is generally poor. Qualitative and quantitative measures on ‘‘what is done in practice’’ are hence critical before developing any proposal of approach and methodology. Since environmental practice in business can be analysed at multiple levels (e.g. process, produc- tion site, business unit, and company) and has multiple dimensions (e.g. energy and resource use, emissions and environmental management), data requirements are potentially extensive (Martinet and Reynaud, 2004; Blair and Hitchkock, 2001). It is crucial to focus on the most relevant elements, especially for a small business. The present study was designed to improve the environmental performance of SME that are often ‘‘struggling to survive’’ and where very little attention is devoted to non-profit related activi- ties. The survey has enabled to respond to a number of questions by being both comprehensive in scope and by enabling clear links to be drawn between SHE and other key management aspects of business. SME around the world have the same characteristics in terms economic importance, technical and management constraints, threats and challenges faced (www.worldbank.org, www.ifc.org. www.unido.org, .). Some basic characteristics however depend on the macro-economic conditions and level of industrial development. As the study was conducted at 242 sample-companies, representing a large range of manufacturing operations in countries of West-Africa, findings and solutions give indications to other Sub-Saharan African countries (Republic of South Africa excluded) due to similarities of operations and economic development. * Corresponding author. Centre for the Development of Enterprise, East African Field Office, Liaison House, State House Av., PO Box 49568, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya. Tel.: þ254 20 273 2285; fax: þ254 20 273 2045. E-mail address: vafmeite@gmail.com (V. Meite ´). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Environmental Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman 0301-4797/$ – see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.10.003 Journal of Environmental Management 90 (2009) 1463–1468