Systematic review of qualitative literature on occupational health and safety legislation and regulatory enforcement planning and implementation

MacEachen, Ellen; Kosny, Agnieszka; Ståhl, Christian; O’Hagan, Fergal; Redgrift, Lisa; Sanford, Sarah; Carrasco, Christine; Tompa, Emile; Mahood, Quenby

doi:10.5271/sjweh.3529

Cited by 45 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Our study has limitations that should be noted. Although it was aimed at understanding how law and regulatory regimes can improve occupational health and safety of workers [ 80 , 81 ], the stakeholder engagement component was limited and did not include health worker associations. It is also possible that the mix of stakeholders who took part in the meetings resulted in a narrower range of expressed opinion than would have been the case had these groups met separately.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing Occupational Tuberculosis in Health Workers: An Analysis of State Responsibilities and Worker Rights in Mozambique

Garcia

Spiegel

Yassi

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Given the very high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) among health workers in Mozambique, a low-income country in Southern Africa, implementation of measures to protect health workers from occupational TB remains a major challenge. This study explores how Mozambique’s legal framework and health system governance facilitate—or hinder—implementation of protective measures in its public (state-provided) healthcare sector. Using a mixed-methods approach, we examined international, constitutional, regulatory, and policy frameworks. We also recorded and analysed the content of a workshop and policy discussion group on the topic to elicit the perspectives of health workers and of officials responsible for implementing workplace TB policies. We found that despite a well-developed legal framework and national infection prevention and control policy, a number of implementation barrier persisted: lack of legal codification of TB as an occupational disease; absence of regulations assigning specific responsibilities to employers; failure to deal with privacy and stigma fears among health workers; and limited awareness among health workers of their legal rights, including that of collective action. While all these elements require attention to protect health workers from occupational TB, a stronger emphasis on their human and labour rights is needed alongside their perceived responsibilities as caregivers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing Occupational Tuberculosis in Health Workers: An Analysis of State Responsibilities and Worker Rights in Mozambique

Garcia

Spiegel

Yassi

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…However, a few cantonal inspectorates successfully employ participatory inspection techniques; exploring how this could be propagated in the context of Switzerland's liberal labour market seems a useful avenue of reflection. This could be interesting for other countries as well, since several studies have reported on a lack of contact between inspectors and workers (MacEachen et al, 2016;Stadler and Splittgerber, 2014).…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Findingsmentioning

confidence: 95%

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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“…A systematic review of this type of publication could be useful for government agencies confronted with the difficulty of tackling these issues. Previous systematic reviews have measured the impact of labour inspections in terms of injuries and occupational diseases (MacEachen et al, 2016;Mischke et al, 2013), but to our knowledge, there has not been any systematic review on labour inspector intervention for the prevention of psychosocial risks. Many countries have launched intervention programmes over the past 20 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Labour inspections and the prevention of psychosocial risks at work: A realist synthesis

Weissbrodt

Giauque

2017

Safety Science

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Background: Little research exists on the effectiveness of workplace visits by labour inspectors in relation to psychosocial risks. The study aimed to produce a consistent and transferable evidence-based framework. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review using the realist synthesis approach. Searches in three electronic databases, systematic hand-searches in five specialised journals and iterative purposive searches yielded 25 publications. The initial search included any study between 2000 and 2015 containing information on labour inspectorates and psychosocial risks or stress at work. We conducted a complementary search to identify publications from French-speaking authors. Results: The synthesis yielded a conceptual model relating public intervention measures, mechanisms of action, outcomes and contexts. Publications indicate positive outcomes in 4 cases, possibly positive in 2, mixed outcomes in 4, and no or poor effects in 10. Studies from Nordic countries show some positive outcomes of inspection activities based on dialogue with employers, group interviews with employees, repeated visits and combinations with other communication and information channels, in the context of highly organised labour markets. Conversely, other studies highlight the limitations of intervention strategies that rely on an ''enlightenment" principle, in a context of increasingly precarious and flexible work situations. Conclusion: The synthesis suggests the possibility of positive outcomes of inspectors' interventions on psychosocial risks in supportive contexts and with appropriate training and resources. However, strong evidence is lacking and more evaluation studies are necessary. A comprehensive conceptual framework may help to analyse the wide range of factors influencing the effectiveness of workplace visits by inspectors.

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Systematic review of qualitative literature on occupational health and safety legislation and regulatory enforcement planning and implementation

Cited by 45 publications

References 39 publications

Preventing Occupational Tuberculosis in Health Workers: An Analysis of State Responsibilities and Worker Rights in Mozambique

Preventing Occupational Tuberculosis in Health Workers: An Analysis of State Responsibilities and Worker Rights in Mozambique

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

Labour inspections and the prevention of psychosocial risks at work: A realist synthesis

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