Occupational safety and health and smaller organisations: research challenges and opportunities

Pinder, James; Gibb, Alistair G.F.; Dainty, Andrew R.J.; Jones, Wendy; Fray, Michael; Hartley, Ruth E.; Cheyne, Alistair; Finneran, Aoife; Glover, Jane; Haslam, Roger; Morgan, Jennie; Waterson, Patrick; Gosling, Elaine Yolande; Bust, Phillip D.; Pink, Sarah

doi:10.1080/14773996.2016.1239357

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…This most likely applies to safety and health issues as well. Although very little research has been done on this subject (Pinder et al 2016), it may therefore be assumed that especially small companies would rather resort to informal and implicit (but not necessarily ineffective) ad hoc practices of “assessing” and “managing” occupational risks (Beck et al 2017). Such practices may remain, at least partly, undetected if survey respondents are asked about adhering to legally prescribed WRA procedures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consideration of psychosocial factors in workplace risk assessments: findings from a company survey in Germany

Beck

Lenhardt

2019

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

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PurposeWork-related psychosocial risks are an increasingly important issue in occupational safety and health (OSH) policy. In Germany, as in many other European countries, employers are legally required to carry out workplace risk assessments (WRAs) and to account for psychosocial factors when doing this. The aim of this study was to expand the still scarce and sketchy empirical evidence on the extent to which employers comply with these obligations, as well as on possible determinants of compliance behaviour.MethodsSurvey data from 6500 German companies were used to calculate the prevalence of workplace risk assessments that include psychosocial factors. Furthermore, multinomial logistic regressions were performed to explore which company characteristics influence the chance of psychosocial risk assessment occurrence.ResultsThe prevalence of psychosocial risk assessments was 21%. Next to company size (OR = 5.7, 95% CI 3.0–11.0), availability of safety specialist assistance (OR = 3.5, 95% CI 2.6–4.6), availability of occupational health specialist assistance (OR = 3.4; 95% CI 2.6–4.4) and inspection by OSH authority (OR = 3.4, 95% CI 2.4–4.7) were the strongest predictors of psychosocial risk assessment occurrence. Smaller (but still significant) effect sizes were found for the level of knowledge about legal OSH requirements, training of managers in OSH, economic situation of the company, presence of a works council, positive view on the benefit of OSH, affiliation with the production sector and magnitude of psychosocial risks within the company.ConclusionsThe study results indicate large deficiencies in the implementation of psychosocial risk assessments, especially for small companies. Findings suggest that enhancing companies’ utilisation of professional OSH experts and strengthening the advisory and control capacities of the OSH inspection authorities in the area of psychosocial risks would be beneficial for improving the current situation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consideration of psychosocial factors in workplace risk assessments: findings from a company survey in Germany

Beck

Lenhardt

2019

Int Arch Occup Environ Health

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“…Factors interacting with the inspection process may relate to workplace structure. There is a positive relationship between company size and prevention efforts (EU-OSHA, 2012b; Hasle et al, 2014;Jain, 2011;Pinder et al, 2016); besides, manufacturing and construction firms have less developed prevention practices than service companies (EU-OSHA, 2012b). Economic situation at company level could also be of importance; this parameter was kept for exploratory purposes.…”

Section: Conceptual Model and Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also interesting is the fact that larger companies from the secondary sector showed improvements, even when not inspected, thus reflecting other influences than the regulatory visits. It is well known that the bigger the company, the more resources it can invest in a structured approach to health and safety (EU-OSHA, 2016;Hasle et al, 2014;Pinder et al, 2016). This result may also be attributable to the dissemination of information by the government, the media, and various stakeholders during the campaign.…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing psychosocial risks at work: An evaluation study of labour inspectorate interventions

et al. 2018

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Workplace responses to labour inspectorate interventions regarding psychosocial risks at work are not well known. This study aimed to assess the effects of inspection visits at company level. A survey was conducted in two groups of companies. In one group, companies were visited by a labour inspector some days after the survey, and in the other group, not. The survey was repeated one year later in both groups. It relied on a structured phone interview with the person within the company who best knew about occupational health and safety. We collected information about health and safety management, worker participation, as well as ability, willingness and measures for the prevention of psychosocial risks. Two kinds of prevention measures were distinguished: specific psychosocial risk management measures on one side, and more general improvements of working conditions on the other side. 185 companies with an inspection visit and 161 companies without took part in the study. The results were encouraging, since inspected companies improved their management of health and safety, increased their ability in psychosocial issues, and demonstrated a stronger willingness to act. To a lesser extent, they implemented specific psychosocial risk management measures. However, visits did not lead to improvements regarding scores for employee participation or general improvements of working conditions, such as work organisation, working schedules or staffing levels. A further step for regulatory initiatives would be to emphasise more strongly the need for a prevention approach grounded in the assessment and improvement of job designs, content and organisation.

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“…The focus on the working class remained a central theme in health care legislation (Barthe 1944). And this focus, together with the advent of the managed economy with its dominance of the big enterprise (Audretsch and Thurik 2001), led to a certain disregard of health care arrangements of workers in small companies and their owners (Pinder et al 2016;Hasle et al 2009). The industry-wide arrangements of the late twentieth century brought the workers of the small companies alongside those in their bigger counterparts but the negligence of the owners remained intact.…”

Section: Spillover Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small business owners and health

Torrès

Thurik

2018

Small Bus Econ

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Occupational safety and health and smaller organisations: research challenges and opportunities

Cited by 15 publications

References 34 publications

Consideration of psychosocial factors in workplace risk assessments: findings from a company survey in Germany

Consideration of psychosocial factors in workplace risk assessments: findings from a company survey in Germany

Preventing psychosocial risks at work: An evaluation study of labour inspectorate interventions

Small business owners and health

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