How Will the Future of Work Shape OSH Research and Practice? A Workshop Summary

Abstract

Growth of the information economy and globalization of labor markets will be marked by exponential growth in emerging technologies that will cause considerable disruption of the social and economic sectors that drive the global job market. These disruptions will alter the way we work, where we work, and will be further affected by the changing demographic characteristics and level of training of the available workforce. These changes will likely result in scenarios where existing workplace hazards are exacerbated and new hazards with unknown health effects are created. The pace of these changes heralds an urgent need for a proactive approach to understand the potential effects new and emerging workplace hazards will have on worker health, safety, and well-being. As employers increasingly rely on non-standard work arrangements, research is needed to better understand the work organization and employment models that best support decent work and improved worker health, safety, and well-being. This need has been made more acute by the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic that has resulted in dramatic changes in employment patterns, millions of lost jobs, an erosion of many economic sectors, and widespread disparities which further challenge occupational safety and health (OSH) systems to ensure a healthy and productive workplace. To help identify new research approaches to address OSH challenges in the future, a virtual workshop was organized in June 2020 with leading experts in the fields of OSH, well-being, research methods, mental health, economics, and life-course analysis. A paradigm shift will be needed for OSH research in the future of work that embraces key stakeholders and thinks differently about research that will improve lives of workers and enhance enterprise success. A more transdisciplinary approach to research will be needed that integrates the skills of traditional and non-traditional OSH research disciplines, as well as broader research methods that support the transdisciplinary character of an expanded OSH paradigm. This article provides a summary of the presentations, discussion, and recommendations that will inform the agenda of the Expanded Focus for Occupational Safety and Health (Ex4OSH) International Conference, planned for December 2021.

Health Equity and a Paradigm Shift in Occupational Safety and Health

“…How quickly and successfully OSH organizations adapt to this paradigm shift will largely depend on the institutional support given to this transition. Within the biomedical model that has dominated OSH over the past 50 years, research on the technical aspects of OSH has been privileged over research that explores its social aspects [ 3 , 22 , 91 ]. As a result, the social sciences are underrepresented in work on occupational safety and health and the field has developed a limited ability to account for the historical and social context that circumscribe the injury experience and contribute to elevated rates of injuries among workers from certain groups.…”

Promising Occupational Safety, Health, and Well-Being Approaches to Explore the Future of Work in the USA: An Editorial

“…These shifts have led to further developments in the workplace and work, with implications for the safety, health, and well-being of the workforce [1]. As a result, experts have called for innovative and responsive occupational safety and health (OSH) approaches to better understand burgeoning future of work issues, help harness presented opportunities, and address exhibited challenges [2][3][4][5]. One such approach is the Total Worker Health ® (TWH) framework [6,7], which recognizes work as a social determinant of health and prioritizes the principles of healthy work design [8] to protect and promote worker well-being both on-and off-the-job.…”

Leveraging Strategic Foresight to Advance Worker Safety, Health, and Well-Being

“…The occupational safety and health (OSH) community has already acknowledged the need for a transformation to keep up with the pace of the rapid and profound changes affecting workers [2,4,5,[21][22][23]. As part of that transformation, an approach for expanding the focus of OSH was proposed in 2019 to more fully consider how traditional job risks and hazards combine with personal, social, and economic factors to affect health and well-being across the working life continuum [5].…”

“…As part of that transformation, an approach for expanding the focus of OSH was proposed in 2019 to more fully consider how traditional job risks and hazards combine with personal, social, and economic factors to affect health and well-being across the working life continuum [5]. Proactively managing this broader-and growing-list of issues will require innovative and systems-focused OSH methods and approaches [2,4,5,21,22]. To that end, this paper proposes integrating strategic foresight into OSH research and practice.…”