Psychosocial, Health Promotion and Safety Culture management – Are Health and Safety Practitioners involved?

Abstract

Health and Safety Practitioners (HSPs), as frontline professionals advocating for the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) conditions at work, have a pivotal role in an organisation. Over the last number of years, the nature of work has changed; the assessment and management of psychosocial risk factors and health promotion are now additional core challenges in OHS. This study aims to investigate the HSPs’ main tasks and their involvement in activities regarding the management of Psychosocial risk factors, Safety Culture and Health Promotion (HP) within their organisations. Data from 879 HSPs was collected through a web-survey of members of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) in Ireland and the UK. The questionnaire was adapted from Hale et al. (2005) and Jones (2005) concerning the OHS structure in the HSP’s organisation, his/her main areas of activity and a list of the most common tasks performed by European HSPs. Chi-square analysis was used to assess the association between HSPs organisational and job characteristics and their involvement in the management of Psychosocial risk factors, Safety Culture and Health Promotion. Logistic regression was used to ascertain organisational predictors of the HSPs’ involvement in these tasks. There was no variation in the proportion of HSPs performing tasks related to Psychosocial risk factors by company size, job title nor sector of activity. Safety Culture (86.8%) and Health Promotion-related tasks (64.2%) were a greater part of the HSPs job than psychosocial activities (30.8%). Those in the “Agriculture, forestry/fishing, mining/quarrying” sector were most involved in these activities (HP 84.4%; Safety Culture 90.6%). HSPs with “Manager, Director, Head, Lead, Coordinator” roles were more likely to perform Health Promotion and Safety Culture-related activities independent of industrial sector or company size. HSPs do not seem to take an active role in Psychosocial risk factors’ assessment and management in most workplace settings. The results highlight the challenge in ensuring a holistic and multidisciplinary approach for prevention of Psychosocial risk factors for integrated OHS management.