Critical factors of success and barriers to the implementation of occupational health and safety management systems: A systematic review of literature

•The present study is a systematic literature review.•The studies emphasize occupational safety issues compared to worker health issues.•The analysis pointed to weaknesses in use of epidemiological indicators in the management of OHS.•These indicators allow companies to proactively manage events with their employees. Occupational accidents and disease are events that can and should be controlled preventively by planning, organization and assessment of the performance of the means of control implemented. Excellence in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) depends on models that allow the adoption of preventive measures to reduce work-related risks by proactive action to improve the workers’ health, safety and satisfaction. The objective of this article was to verify success factors, barriers and indicators present in the process of implementing an Occupational Health and Safety Management System. A systematic review of literature was performed by two independent researchers, based on the protocol of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). After a search in the databases Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science, applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 21 articles in English language, published between the years 2007 and 2018, remained in the final analysis. The results allowed evidencing the methodologies, tools and indicators used in OHS management. The analyses pointed out weaknesses in the existing models, particularly about the use of epidemiological indicators that allow helping the organizations to manage the occurrences with their workers proactively. A predominance of analysis was observed focusing on matters related to occupational safety to the detriment of analysis referring to occupational health which are given less enphasis.