Evaluation and comparison of the Chinese policy context for safety-related psychological health in the workplace: Realities,gaps and challenges

Work-related psychological health problems have become a major challenge for occupational health and safety (OHS) management. Hard and soft policy systems could be employed to guarantee that this issue is taken seriously and solved effectively. However, in China, compared with the European Union (EU) and Australia, few experts have reviewed the policies related to this area. Thus, a comparative analysis was performed to investigate the hard and soft law policies associated with safety-related psychological health in the workplace based on approved criteria. A total of 21 policies (16 hard and 5 soft) were evaluated, and the current realities were discovered. Then, by comparing the actual situation in China with that of countries with well-developed policy systems in this area, extant gaps and future challenges were observed. The results showed that both hard and soft policies addressed the topic, but all of them had rather low scores. The policy system is far from perfect and is still in its infancy in China, and there are great gaps between China and countries with more developed systems related to this topic. Filling these gaps may involve encountering some challenges in the future. Based on the analysis, some specific suggestions are recommended to promote the policy system and improve OHS management from the perspective of psychological health related to work.     

Organizational practices and workplace health and safety: A cross-sectional study in manufacturing companies

We report the results of a mail questionnaire for 312 manufacturing firms in the province of Ontario (Canada). We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of workplace level health and safety policies, practices and attitudes. Analyses were conducted across firm categories based upon lost-time frequency rate (LTFR) data. Lower LTFRs were associated with paternalistic initiatives, recording of occupational health and safety (OHS) measures, greater involvement of workers in decision-making, and better managerial attitudes concerning the importance of OHS. The composition of the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC), a committee mandated in all workplaces we sampled, differed according to injury rate: the mean number of worker (vs. management) members on the JHSC was higher for lower injury sites, and the mean number of worker members attending JHSC meetings was also higher for lower injury worksites. In addition, workplaces with lower LTFR benefitted by having JHSCs with more executive functions and greater worker involvement. In conclusion, managerial and worker participation in OHS initiatives characterizes safer workplaces. Also, general concern of management towards OHS—illustrated by both attitudes and concrete actions—is also associated with lower injury rates.     

The determinants of employee participation in occupational health and safety management

This article focuses on employee direct participation in occupational health and safety (OHS) management. The article explains what determines employee opportunities to participate in OHS management. The explanatory framework focuses on safety culture and safety management at workplaces. The framework is empirically tested using Estonian cross-sectional, multilevel data of organizations and their employees. The analysis indicates that differences in employee participation in OHS management in the Estonian case could be explained by differences in OHS management practices rather than differences in safety culture. This indicates that throughout the institutional change and shift to the European model of employment relations system, change in management practices has preceded changes in safety culture which according to theoretical argument is supposed to follow culture change.     

Self-directed workteams and safety: a winning combination?

The organization of work into self-directed work teams (SDWT) has considerably changed the power structure within companies. In addition to carrying out the work, SDWT members make decisions that are traditionally the jurisdiction of first line supervisors. This exploratory research examines the impact of this type of group empowerment on the management of health and safety in twelve factories in Quebec. As expected, the management of health and safety is greatly modified when self-directed work teams are implemented. These teams play a major role in the planning, implementation and monitoring of corrective measures on the shop floor. Staff and management provide support and advice to the work teams, but make fewer and fewer decisions themselves. Peer pressure, when perceived as legitimate, is likely to positively influence the safety attitudes and behaviours of team members. Furthermore, the safety performance of these organizations is actually better than average. However, our respondents were concerned about the growing lack of health and safety leadership displayed by some managers. They worry about the definition of roles, integration of occupational health and safety (OHS) concerns and adoption of OHS measures by less mature work teams. Peer pressure is not always seen as legitimate, thereby causing tension. Finally, our respondents were concerned about the stress and health difficulties that may be related to group decision-making and added responsibilities.     

Development of an indirect-cost calculation model suitable for workplace use

Introduction: Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) stakeholders rarely factor the cost of workplace accidents into prevention spending decisions. The lack of consideration of this key information is related to the fact that the scientific literature has failed to provide OHS stakeholders with a cost-calculation tool that is both sufficiently accurate and does not require a data-collection stage ill-suited to the time constraints of workplace decision-makers. Method: This study reviews the recent literature to identify key elements that should foster the use of indirect-cost calculation methods by decision makers. Results: A “local” approach currently appears to be the best method for calculating indirect costs of workplace incidents or accidents in comparison to “bottom-up” or “top-down” approach. This paper discusses four criteria that this type of approach must satisfy to be compatible with the time constraints and accuracy demands of OHS stakeholders in organizations. In addition, four bases for the development of a new indirect cost estimation model are presented and discussed. Impact on industry: this study provides bases and criteria to help the development of indirect-cost calculation models better suited to workplace use than those currently available.     

Weighing the pig never made it heavier: Auditing OHS,social auditing as verification of process in Australia

South Australian organizations assess their OHSMS through audits as evidence of risk control and to help make workplaces healthy and safe. Auditing is an evaluative process regarded as an important step in the cycle of continuous improvement in OHS. Auditing began with financial audits conducted for reasons of corporate governance: for accountability, to inform management decisions and to provide market confidence. Society expects audits to be a tool of regulation, governance and accountability, but celebrated failures of audits to warn of impending financial collapse in organizations in recent years appears to have led to an increased fervour for auditing, rather than a decline. Social audits, including auditing of OHSMS, are intended to determine that an organization is meeting its corporate social responsibilities; but what is audited is often contested and requires subjective analysis. Financial and social audits are subject to failure: unintentional errors, deliberate fraud, financial interests causing undue influence, and undue influence from personal relationships between the auditor and client. We identify five further categories of failure: lack of worker participation; paperwork for the sake of the audit; goal displacement of audit scoring; confusion of audit criteria; and lack of auditor independence and skill. There has been a shift in focus: the current demand and preparation for auditing distracts organizations from the primary goal of making the workplace healthy and safe. We argue that auditing OHSMS has become a ritual rather than a means of improving workplace health and safety and should at least be treated with caution.     

OHS inspectors and psychosocial risk factors: Evidence from Australia

Legislation giving prominence to psychosocial risk factors at work has changed the role of government occupational health and safety (OHS) inspectors in many countries. Yet little is known about how inspectorates have responded to these changes. Between 2003 and 2007 an Australian study was undertaken on OHS standards, entailing detailed documentary analysis, interviews with 36 inspectorate managers and 89 inspectors, and observations made when researchers accompanied inspectors on 120 typical workplace visits. Our study found that general duty provisions in OHS legislation clearly incorporated psychosocial hazards and inspectorates had introduced guidance material, pursued campaigns and increased interventions in this area. However, the regulatory framework remained narrow (focused on bullying/harassment, occupational violence and work stress) and workplace visits revealed psychosocial hazards as a marginal area of inspectorate activity. These findings were reinforced in interviews. While aware of psychosocial hazards inspectors often saw the issue as problematic due to limited training, resourcing constraints, deficiencies in regulation and fears of victimisation amongst workers. In order to address these problems a number of changes are required that recognize the distinctiveness of psychosocial hazards including their ‘invisibility’. Notable here are revisions to regulation (both general duty provisions and specific codes), the development of comprehensive guidance and assessment tools to be used by inspectors, greater use of procedural enforcement, and enhanced inspectorate resourcing and training. There is also a need to recognize complex inter-linkages between psychosocial hazards and the industrial relations context.     

Possibilistic regression analysis of influential factors for occupational health and safety management systems

The code of occupational health and safety (OHS) is an influential regulation to improve the on-the-job safety of employees. A number of factors influence the planning and implementation of OHS management systems (OHSMS). The evaluation of OHSMS practice is the most important component when forming a health and safety environmental policy for employees. The objective of this research is to develop an intelligent data analysis (IDA) in which possibilistic regression being endowed with a convex hull approach is used to support the analysis of essential factors that influence OHSMS. Given such subjective terms, the obtained samples can be conveniently regarded as fuzzy input/output data represented by membership functions. The study offers this vehicle of intelligent data analysis as an alternative to evaluate the influential factors in a successful implementation of OHS policies and in this way decrease an overall computational effort. The obtained results show that several related OHSMS influential factors need to be carefully considered to facilitate a successful implementation of the OHSMS procedure.     

Worker influence on voluntary OHS management systems – A review of its ends and means

Voluntary management systems (MS) might improve occupational health and safety (OHS). MSs, as with any OHS management, requires worker influence (and management commitment) to reduce risks at work. Influence through union backed safety representatives (or similar) achieves the best OHS results. However, a MS guarantees neither effective OHS management nor strong worker influence. Systematic violations of legal requirements have repeatedly caused accidents at workplaces with certified MSs. Why employers introduce MS’s can affect their implementation and outcomes. Internal objectives, of productivity and/or work-related health, require upstream prevention and a genuine influence by workers and their safety representatives. However, managers with external objectives for a MS, such as brand images or low reported accident figures, may pursue such objectives through downstream control of safe behaviour – sometimes suppressing accident reporting – and with little attention to more serious long-term diseases. Worker consultation may then be a limited means of enhancing safety, or to one-way communication on safety rules. Such consultation may even be used for union busting. Many trade unions welcome MSs as possible improvement instruments, but they are also wary of what MSs employers are actually trying to implement. Unions try to support their safety representatives’ influence in a MS by enhancing their rights and their competences. If the motives for MSs are mainly external and the opportunities for influence too limited, it may be better for unions not to cooperate with management in a MS that may lead more to manipulation than to safe and sound work.     

Successful health and safety management. The contribution of management audit

Auditing the health and safety performance of organisations is now recognised as an essential ingredient of successful health and safety management systems. The audit protocol — the question sets—is, however, only one of a number of factors which determine the end value of auditing. The competence of auditors, their insights into the organisations subject to scrutiny, their independence and the feedback and decision making processes that help organisations to review and change the way they operate are equally important. Much of the process of auditing needs to be systematic, methodical and scientific. However the art of the informed analysis and inspired interpretation can also add value to the total management process. Auditing alone will not prevent accidents and injuries. Health and safety management systems do that. Auditing seeks to assess the efficiency effectiveness of the systems. Informed management action must then follow, to maintain and improve them. This paper outlines five essential components of health and safety management; policy making, organising, planning, performance measurement and review which provide the environment in which effective auditing systems operate. It is derived from the work of HSE's Accident Prevention Advisory Unit and the advice published in “Successful Health and Safety Management” in 1991.     

基于SWOT和战略地图分析的企业OHS战略制定与描述

职业健康安全（OHS）工作是企业生产与经营管理的重要保障,OHS战略是企业运营战略的一个重要组成部分。为促进OHS战略管理,运用SWOT分析法和战略地图法制定和描述企业OHS战略。采用SWOT分析方法,从优势、劣势、机会和威胁等方面分析企业OHS工作的发展态势,实现策略定位。基于战略管理理论,结合策略分析结论,提出企业的OHS战略。为促进战略执行,采用战略地图分析方法,从财务、客户、内部业务流程、学习与成长等维度进一步描述OHS战略规划。研究结果表明,结合SWOT分析法和战略地图分析法的优点,可对企业OHS发展态势进行客观预测以利于提出合理的OHS战略目标,并可对OHS战略进行详细分解以促进战略执行。以Z公司为实例详细阐述企业OHS战略制定的流程与思路,有助于企业OHS战略实施。     

An assessment of health and safety management within working groups in the UK manufacturing sector

Problem: In response to the demands of competitiveness, there has been a proliferation of management delayering in order to move responsibility to those people carrying out the operations and to focus on working as a team. Teams can be managed in different ways: using supervisors, team leaders, or self-managed. The management of health and safety and other business risks is dependent on the way in which the team is managed. Method: This study has assessed, through the use of semistructured interviews, how UK manufacturing companies have addressed a range of health and safety management issues (i.e., the setting, communication, and measurement of company objectives, employee participation and empowerment, and risk assessment) in relation to different styles of group working (i.e., supervised groups, groups with team leaders, and self-managed groups). Discussion: Although the differences are not always significant, it is noticeable that within organizations using supervised work environments, there is a lack of communication of specific health and safety information, little involvement and participation in safety activities, and a greater reliance on the safety function. However, in organizations using team leaders and self-managed groups, there is evidence of greater management involvement, more open communication, and greater employee involvement in health and safety, although empowerment in its true sense was still limited in these organizations. Impact on industry: The results obtained illustrate the impact of different working groups on the management of health and safety in the UK manufacturing sector.     

职业卫生工作若干问题思考与探讨

在概述职业卫生内涵与基本属性的基础上,对其与职业安全、职业医学与公共卫生的关系进行初探.职业卫生是影响社会经济持续发展的重要因素,是以职业人群和作业环境为服务对象,以为劳动者创造或改善劳动条件(作业环境、劳动组织与管理)为主要手段,以预防和控制职业病或职业危害事故的发生为目的的一项劳动保护工作,与职业安全密不可分,同属劳动关系中劳动保护范畴,与职业医学、公共卫生也有着密切的关系,但并不等同.职业安全卫生的一体化管理是经济社会发展的必然要求,也是我国当前安全生产管理中亟需解决的重要问题.     

铝行业职业安全卫生管理信息系统的研究

在分析了铝行业生产特点的基础上，提出建立铝行业安全卫生管理信息系统，论述了职业安全卫生管理信息系统包括的内容。通过建立职业安全卫生管理信息系统，使安全管理工作走向科学化、系统化和信息化，对其它行业具有一定的指导意义。     

A comparative analysis of safety management and safety performance in twelve construction projects

IntroductionSafety management in construction is complicated due to the complex “nature” of the construction industry. The aim of this research was to identify safety management factors (e.g., risk management and site management), contextual factors (e.g., organisational complexity) and combinations of such factors connected to safety performance. Method: Twelve construction projects were selected to compare their safety management and safety performance. An analytical framework was developed based on previous research, regulations, and standards where each management factor was defined. We employed qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to produce case knowledge, compare the cases, and identify connections between the factors and safety performance. The material collected and analyzed included, for example, construction planning documents, reports from OHS-inspections, safety indicators, and interviews with project leaders and OHS experts. Results and conclusions: The research showed that: (a) the average score on 12 safety management factors was higher among projects with high safety performance compared to projects with low safety performance; (b) high safety performance can be achieved with both high and low construction complexity and organizational complexity, but these factors complicate coordination of actors and operations; (c) it is possible to achieve high safety performance despite relatively poor performance on many safety management factors; (d) eight safety management factors were found to be “necessary” for high safety performance, namely roles and responsibilities, project management, OHS management and integration, safety climate, learning, site management, staff management, and operative risk management. Site management, operative risk management, and staff management were the three factors most strongly connected to safety performance. Practical implications: Construction stakeholders should understand that the ability to achieve high safety performance in construction projects is connected to key safety management factors, contextual factors, and combinations of such factors.     

An Exploratory Study of Meanings of Risk Control for Long Term and Acute Effect Occupational Health and Safety Risks in Small Business Construction Firms

A qualitative study of employers' and employees' meanings of occupational health and safety (OHS) risk control was conducted among a sample of small businesses engaged in the Australian construction industry. Two OHS risks relevant to the construction industry were selected for study. One risk (falls from height) represented an immediate consequence, whereas the other (occupational skin disease) represented a long-term health effect. Meanings of the sources and control for these risks were explored during in-depth interviews. Participants perceived the immediate effect, falls from height OHS risk, as being more important in their workplaces than the delayed effect, skin disease OHS risk. The risk of falls from height was perceived to be controllable but requiring a great deal of effort to prevent, whereas there was a fatalistic resignation to the risk of occupational skin disease. Meanings of risk control for both occupational skin disease and falls from height focused on individual rather than technological risk controls. Organizational barriers to the adoption of technological OHS risk controls in the construction industry were identified.     

Relationship of safety climate perceptions and job satisfaction among employees in the construction industry: the moderating role of age

This study examines the degree to which construction sector employees perceive that safety is important in their organizations/sites and how job satisfaction affects these perceptions when age is introduced as a moderator variable. Two-way analysis of variance demonstrated that job satisfaction has a strong effect on perceived management commitment to work safety and that this relationship was moderated by respondents’ age. Job satisfaction was associated with perceived accident rate and safety inspection frequency, but the proposed role of age in this linkage was not confirmed. Consequently, the findings indicated that by increasing the level of job satisfaction, perceptions of these safety climate aspects proved to be more positive. The conclusion is that these relationships could further lead to a lower percentage of accidents and injuries in the workplace and better health among employees. A significant relationship between job satisfaction, age and perceived co-workers’ commitment to work safety was not found.     

Mental models of safety: do managers and employees see eye to eye?

PROBLEM: Disagreements between managers and employees about the causes of accidents and unsafe work behaviors can lead to serious workplace conflicts and distract organizations from the important work of establishing positive safety climate and reducing the incidence of accidents. METHOD AND RESULTS: In this study, the authors examine a model for predicting safe work behaviors and establish the model's consistency across managers and employees in a steel plant setting. Using the model previously described by Brown, Willis, and Prussia (2000), the authors found that when variables influencing safety are considered within a framework of safe work behaviors, managers and employees share a similar mental model. The study then contrasts employees' and managers' specific attributional perceptions. Findings from these more fine-grained analyses suggest the two groups differ in several respects about individual constructs. Most notable were contrasts in attributions based on their perceptions of safety climate. When perceived climate is poor, managers believe employees are responsible and employees believe managers are responsible for workplace safety. However, as perceived safety climate improves, managers and employees converge in their perceptions of who is responsible for safety. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: It can be concluded from this study that in a highly interdependent work environment, such as a steel mill, where high system reliability is essential and members possess substantial experience working together, managers and employees will share general mental models about the factors that contribute to unsafe behaviors, and, ultimately, to workplace accidents. It is possible that organizations not as tightly coupled as steel mills can use such organizations as benchmarks, seeking ways to create a shared understanding of factors that contribute to a safe work environment. Part of this improvement effort should focus on advancing organizational safety climate. As climate improves, managers and employees are likely to agree more about the causes of safe/unsafe behaviors and workplace accidents, ultimately increasing their ability to work in unison to prevent accidents and to respond appropriately when they do occur. Finally, the survey items included in this study may be useful to organizations wishing to conduct self-assessments.     

Frequency and determinants of recommended workplace violence prevention measures

PROBLEM: Limited information exists concerning adoption of workplace violence prevention measures by employers and the factors influencing their adoption. METHODS: A weighted sample of North Carolina workplaces (n=210) in operation January 1994 through March 1998 was used to estimate prevalence of 18 measures and identify community and workplace predictors of having >/=5 recommended measures. RESULTS: Location in a metropolitan area most strongly predicted presence of >/=5 administrative safety measures while a history of workplace violence and being in a high crime area were negatively associated. Belonging to an industry considered to be high-risk for workplace homicide was most strongly associated with having >/=5 environmental safety measures. DISCUSSION: Factors influencing high prevalence of violence prevention measures were related to business type, violence history, and location. Knowledge of factors influencing adoption of recommended workplace violence prevention measures can help tailor interventions to diverse industry settings. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: An important contribution to the understanding and mitigation of workplace homicide is knowledge of the extent of implementation of recommended workplace violence prevention guidelines and factors influencing their adoption. Identifying factors that influence the prevalence and adoption of workplace violence safety interventions can help to tailor development of interventions to address the issue of workplace homicide across diverse industry settings.