Occupational Health And Safety Regulations Research Articles

Safety and health among undeclared workers: A mixed methods study investigating social partner experiences and strategies

Little is known about the experiences of the social partners in helping undeclared workers resist Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) issues. This study draws upon Walter Korpi’s ‘power resource theory’ to gain a deeper understanding of how power resources within the construction, transport, and cleaning sectors influence the ability of social partners to respond to OSH issues related to undeclared work.This mixed-method study uses survey data from employer representatives in the construction (n = 686) and transport (n = 650) sectors in Sweden in 2019 to estimate the nature and magnitude of undeclared work-related problems. To also study the view of union representatives, a duplicate survey was sent to union representatives in the transport, construction, and cleaning sectors (n = 57) in 2020, followed by 13 semi-structured interviews with Regional Safety Representatives (RSRs) in 2021–2023. Our findings show that employer representatives in construction and transport reported that the violation of OSH regulations was uncommon and remained unchanged, most union representatives said the opposite. We found a gradient of activism among the unions towards OSH issues related to undeclared work dependent on their power resources. Furthermore, structural and organizational factors limited the RSRs’ ability to address undeclared work. The RSRs identified strategies to tackle OSH issues related to undeclared work in their sectors, these included but were not limited to, dismantling the language barrier between unions and undeclared foreign-born workers, for OSH coordinators and main contractors to be held responsible for OSH violations and greater cooperation between the relevant authorities dealing with undeclared work.

Development of Safety Briefing Kit for School of Health Sciences

Occupational safety and health (OSH) briefings for employees and other interested parties are crucial in ensuring the proper dissemination of minimal OSH requirements and information across the organization [1]. The implementation in Malaysia is based on OSH regulations as outlined by the Department of Safety and Health Malaysia. The challenge here is the requirement for OSH briefing shall be different depending on the facility and operations themselves. Adding up, it is crucial for OSH briefing to be delivered with the right content to everyone efficiently and simply but as accurately and easily understandable as possible [2]. Several studies have indicated the multiple types of hazards available in tertiary education settings (i.e., university, college, polytechnic, etc.) which include physical, chemical, biological, electrical, and even radiological [3–5]. As tertiary education settings have multiple types of occupancy ranging from students, academic staff, support staff, contractors, and visitors, the risk of injury to the occupants is feasible. Hence, the objective of this study was to identify the elements of OSH briefing content and develop an OSH briefing kit for tertiary education settings.
 
 Understanding and evaluating elements of OSH briefing require a systematic approach for reviewing documents, both printed and electronic materials, hence document analysis methods were utilized [6]. Reports, articles, books, standards, and guidelines with a keyword of safety briefing were used to filter the identified documents and every identified information on OSH briefing is categorized into larger elements. These produced the total elements needed in conducting an effective OSH briefing. An OSH briefing kit was developed for the School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) based on the identified elements. By utilizing the face validity method [7], the OSH was then discussed and verified by seven experts consisting of the school emergency team. Using an adopted four sections, thirteen questions of five points Likert scale questionnaire were used to assist experts in reviewing the OSH briefing kit. This study has been reviewed and approved by the USM Human Research Ethics Committee (USM/JEPeM/22020125).
 Through extensive literature, there were seven safety briefing elements identified for a good safety briefing [1–3,5,8] as summarized in Figure 1. The scope of the safety briefing served as the learning outcomes must be informed to the participant earlier during each safety briefing session. A specified facility background is necessary as different facilities might have different layouts and arrangements. General safety and security requirements should be stated clearly as each facility is unique and might have different risks. Basic personal protective equipment (PPE) is required to ensure that everyone entering the facility is minimally protected in preventing or minimizing injuries. Common hazards, which are typically identified by a comprehensive risk management process, will ensure that everyone understands the hazards located across the facility while reiterating the necessity of general safety and security regulations and basic PPE needs. An essential emergency procedure provides everyone with an understanding of basic response to the emergency which includes notification, communication, evacuation process, and route including assembly area and accountability process. Finally, the briefing time should be less than 15 minutes to ensure short and precise communications and to minimally disrupt the main activity or operations.
 
 The developed OSH briefing kit was tailored to the School of Health Sciences requirements and consisted of a presentation slide for a manual briefing by respective emergency team personnel as well as the three minutes and 40 seconds of pre-recorded OSH briefing multimedia depending on the availability of non-emergency team members. There were 13 slides in the presentation, each with pre-written text to make the briefing process simpler. School event organizers could have the option to use any of the two materials from the OSH briefing kit. The kit utilizes the elements of effective safety briefing identified earlier. Through the experts' validations process, it was agreed that the OSH briefing kit has good information quality with an average score of 4.26 indicating the accuracy of the content covered. The usefulness of the kit was also consented by experts at 4.52 average score indicating comprehensive general OSH requirement in the school. The OSH briefing kit scored 4.24 on average for usage characteristic and the overall satisfaction of the kit was at 4.29 average score.
 
 It is concluded that in developing an effective OSH briefing, a total of seven (7) elements should be considered to ensure the comprehensiveness of the briefing, hence the novelty of this study. The elements are suitable to be used in developing an OSH briefing for tertiary education settings, but the content should be tailored based on the entity itself. Future studies will include the evaluation of the developed OSH briefing kit for the end-user in understanding the acceptability and understanding of the minimum OSH requirement in tertiary education settings.

BARRIERS TO THE ADOPTION OF NEW SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES IN CONSTRUCTION: A DEVELOPING COUNTRY CONTEXT

The adoption rate of new technologies is still relatively low in the construction industry, particularly for mitigating occupational safety and health (OSH) risks, which is traditionally a largely labor-intensive activity in developing countries, occupying ill-afforded non-productive management resources. However, understanding why this is the case is a relatively unresearched area in developing countries such as Malaysia. In aiming to help redress this situation, this study explored the major barriers involved, firstly by a detailed literature review to identify the main barriers hampering the adoption of new technologies for safety science and management in construction. Then, a questionnaire survey of Malaysian construction practitioners was used to prioritize these barriers. A factor analysis further identified six major dimensions underlying the barriers, relating to the lack of OSH regulations and legislation, technological limitations, lack of genuine organizational commitment, prohibitive costs, poor safety culture within the construction industry, and privacy and data security concerns. Taken together, the findings provide a valuable reference to assist industry practitioners and researchers regarding the critical barriers to the adoption of new technologies for construction safety management in Malaysia and other similar developing countries, and bridge the identified knowledge gap concerning the dimensionality of the barriers.

Occupational health and safety in agriculture - a brief report on organization, legislation and support in selected European countries.

Agriculture and forestry are among the most dangerous professions in Europe, with a high level of accidents affecting the sustainability and viability of the sector. International conventions, EU directives and national legislation build the fundamental basis for prevention. The aim of the study is to describe and categorize national mechanisms of occupational safety and health (OSH) for agricultural workers in Europe, to assess the extent of implementing safety regulation, the body in charge, and to give examples of health and safety initiatives. Results of a questionnaire-survey on basic safety regulations on farms sent by e-mail to the representatives of 30 participating European countries in the context of the Sacurima COST action network (CA 16123) are presented. Due to the complexity, only selected countries are described in this study highlighting the regulative bodies, occupational health services or specific training offers, as well as the complexity of the mechanisms. One of the most serious issues and deficits of EU OSH regulation is the exclusion of self-employed farmers who compose nearly 90% of the farming population. This leads to serious under-reporting of accidents, and because one of the most common measures for the performance of health and safety initiatives are the injury and ill health statistics, better registration systems are urgently needed in almost all countries as a basis for preventive efforts. The results of the study provide a basis for raising awareness about the current OSH systems in Europe, and the importance of developing sector specific OSH strategies. The proposed activities should assist in tackling high accident rates and poor occupational health for self-employed farmers.

The Perception of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Regulation and Innovation Efficiency in the Construction Industry: Evidence from South Korea.

Due to safety issues in the construction industry, interest in research on occupational safety and health (OSH) regulations remains high. Previous studies indicated that OSH regulations not only affect performance in and of themselves, but also indirectly by increasing awareness of such regulations. Studies also demonstrated that OSH regulation can affect innovation and corporate safety. However, the effect of OSH regulation on innovation remains unclear, as the relationship between the perception of OSH regulation and innovation is not fully understood. This study measures the innovation efficiency of companies in the Korean construction industry using data envelopment analysis (DEA), and investigates the relationship between innovation efficiency and companies’ perceptions of OSH regulations. Results indicate that companies that positively recognize OSH regulations tend to be more innovative than those that do not. This study also validates differences in innovation efficiency depending on the perception of OSH regulations by bootstrap DEA. The results of this study suggest appropriate strategies to promote innovation in the construction industry from the perspectives of both government and practitioners in firms.

Effectiveness of the Labour Inspection Authority’s regulatory tools for work environment and employee health: study protocol for a cluster-randomised controlled trial among Norwegian home-care workers

IntroductionThere is a need to evaluate whether, and to what degree, labour inspections or other regulatory tools have the desired effects on psychosocial, organisational and mechanical work environment, and employee...

Systematic literature review on the effects of occupational safety and health (OSH) interventions at the workplace

Objectives The aim of this review was to assess the evidence that occupational safety and health (OSH) legislative and regulatory policy could improve the working environment in terms of reduced levels of industrial injuries and fatalities, musculoskeletal disorders, worker complaints, sick leave and adverse occupational exposures. Methods A systematic literature review covering the years 1966‒2017 (February) was undertaken to capture both published and gray literature studies of OSH work environment interventions with quantitative measures of intervention effects. Studies that met specified in- and exclusion criteria went through an assessment of methodological quality. Included studies were grouped into five thematic domains: (i) introduction of OHS legislation, (ii) inspection/enforcement activity, (iii) training, such as improving knowledge, (iv), campaigns, and (v) introduction of technical device, such as mechanical lifting aids. The evidence synthesis was based on meta-analysis and a modified Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Results The search for peer-reviewed literature identified 14 743 journal articles of which 45 fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were eligible for meta-analysis. We identified 5181 articles and reports in the gray literature, of which 16 were evaluated qualitatively. There was moderately strong evidence for improvement by OHS legislation and inspections with respect to injuries and compliance. Conclusions This review indicates that legislative and regulatory policy may reduce injuries and fatalities and improve compliance with OHS regulation. A major research gap was identified with respect to the effects of OSH regulation targeting psychological and musculoskeletal disorders.

Occupational safety and health regulations and implementation challenges in Uganda

The burden of occupational diseases and injuries is high in developing countries due to several challenges including poor regulatory frameworks. To explore the status of occupational safety and health (OSH) policies and related implementation challenges in Uganda, we reviewed OSH regulations and conducted key informant interviews with stakeholders. We found that the existing OSH laws were largely outdated compared to the current needs of workplaces. Challenges affecting implementation are related to: gaps in the legal framework, low public awareness about OSH, poor planning, and limited human capacity, transparency, and accountability. Measures to address these gaps including training, upgrading OSH laws and policies, and prioritization are warranted to improve the status of OSH in Uganda.

Researcher Safety? Ethnography in the Interdisciplinary World of Audit Cultures

Anthropologists intermittently reflect on the danger and risk that ethnography can involve. Here, we advance this question in a contemporary research environment where the regulatory logics of occupational safety and health (OSH) encroach increasingly on anthropological practice through institutional research governance. We draw on our research into workplace OSH in the construction, health care, and logistics sectors—a research field dominated by behavioral theories that support the preventative logics of OSH regulation. Taking an autoethnographic approach, we explore how researching in potentially dangerous environments requires ethnographers to learn how to be safe through others’ situated safety logics and through those of researcher safety. It is, we argue, through these engagements with the improvisatory ways that workers generally, and researchers specifically, engage with safety, that another set of inconsistencies between OSH preventative logics and our anthropological understanding of how ethnographic knowing emerges become visible.

Who are the Regulators of Occupational Safety and Health Standards in Advanced Industrial Economies?

This paper provides an insight for how occupational safety and health (OSH) standards are regulated by the State, and social partners, in five advanced market economies. It argues that historically, within the field of OSH regulation, the role of the State as regulator of OSH standards changes but yet key in regulation. Depending on which type of market economy in focus, the social partners or just the employer actively partake in various ways as co-regulators of OSH standards. With a historical and comparative approach, regulatory patterns of coordinated market economies (CMEs) and a liberalised market economy (LME) are analysed, to show that the former is corporatist and allows more active participation of the social partners in regulation, while the latter is pluralist, hence in the later system, employers play much more dominant role than employees as co-regulators. In conclusion it is argued that i) the role of the State in CMEs is merely complementary to the fulfilment of OSH goals, but the role of the State in the LME is quite central to the realisation of envisaged OSH goals; and ii) employees in the CMEs of Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, and Sweden, due to their more powerful roles as co-regulators, tend to enjoy higher OSH protection standards than employees in the LME system of the US.

Occupational Safety and Health and Healthy Housing: A Review of Opportunities and Challenges.

Occupational safety and health (OSH) risks in construction of healthy housing (HH) have not been examined and collaboration between HH and OSH professionals is inadequate. The World Health Organization is developing international HH guidelines and the International Labour Organization is working to improve OSH in construction globally. We searched for exemplary reports (including gray literature) on construction hazards; preventive measures for occupants and workers; OSH frameworks, laws, and regulations; definitions; and HH. Healthy housing construction typically improves ventilation, moisture and mold, pest control, injury hazards, cleanability, maintenance, accessibility, thermal conditioning, and avoidance of toxic building materials. To date, this work is done without explicit requirements for worker health. Construction is among the most hazardous sectors around the globe, although protective measures are well known, including engineering and administrative controls and provision of personal protective equipment. Residential construction, renovation, repair, and maintenance are fragmented, consisting mostly of small companies without proper OSH training, equipment, and knowledge of HH principles. Residential construction is often undertaken by informal or unauthorized workers, putting them at high risk. Reduced exposure to toxic building materials is an example of a benefit for both workers and occupants if OSH and HH collaboration can be improved. By recognizing that homes under new construction or renovation are both a workplace and a residence, HH and OSH initiatives can apply public health principles to occupants and workers simultaneously. This article publishes key definitions, hazards and interventions common to both fields. A global increase in residential construction and renewed global interest in HH poses both risks and opportunities for primary prevention. Policy and practice interventions can benefit the health of occupants and those who work on their homes. Improvements in legislation, regulation, and international frameworks are needed to maximize OSH and HH collaboration and realize significant cobenefits. Occupational safety and health and HH standards should include requirements to protect both workers and occupants. Because homes can also be workplaces, both workers and housing occupants will receive important cobenefits when OSH and HH standards use proven interventions to protect workers and occupants.

Assessment of current occupational safety and health regulations and legislation in the Caribbean

ABSTRACTNeglecting occupational safety and health (OSH) can have adverse and even deadly consequences. While OSH is important in any nation, the issue is particularly concerning in developing countries, including ones in the Caribbean. The purpose of this study, which was carried out in 2012 and 2013, was to examine the reasons for an apparent fundamental lack of awareness of OSH in the Caribbean. We conducted a descriptive study, in which a questionnaire was administered, via telephone, to key policy-making representatives from six English-speaking Caribbean nations, in order to assess the current OSH environment in their countries. We also did a situational analysis of current OSH regulations and legislation within the six countries. We found that that some of the countries’ OSH laws are out of date or are limited to a certain type of industry. We also found that there is very little documentation on research on exposure to and risks from hazards and on psychological and reproductive health as related to OSH. It is recommended that these Caribbean countries both increase national OSH awareness and strengthen enforcement of OSH regulations. Additionally, further assistance and a more coordinated effort from intergovernmental bodies could help build and fortify OSH systems in the Caribbean.

A comparative study of vocational education and occupational safety and health training in China and the UK

In order to enhance Chinese workers’ occupational safety awareness, it is essential to learn from developed countries’ experiences. This article investigates thoroughly occupational safety and health (OSH) in China and the UK; moreover, the article performs a comparison of Chinese and British OSH training-related laws, regulations and education system. The following conclusions are drawn: China’s work safety continues to improve, but there is still a large gap compared with the UK. In China a relatively complete vocational education and training (VET) system has been established. However, there exist some defects in OSH. In the UK, the employer will not only pay attention to employees’ physiological health, but also to their mental health. The UK’s VET is characterized by classification and grading management, which helps integrate OSH into the whole education system. China can learn from the UK in the development of policies, VET and OSH training.

Occupational safety and health education under the lifelong learning framework in Serbia

Serbia is aligning with European Union requirements and the occupational safety and health (OSH) administration is one of the most representative sectors of this alignment. Many efforts were made in this field, by introducing new laws and regulations, but it turned out to be insufficient. OSH professionals need to renovate and strengthen their knowledge in accordance with continuous, updated and improved OSH standards and regulation. Lifelong learning (LLL) programmes can contribute to forming professionals who are always up to date. This paper presents an implemented LLL programme, over the duration of two academic years, dedicated to OSH professionals, and investigates whether this programme will be helpful and accepted by professionals. The results from the study show that the given LLL programme had indeed a positive influence on the professional careers of the participants and that the LLL presents the future trend in OSH education.

The Temporal Dependencies of Formal Rules for Occupational Safety and Health

What the author sets out to achieve here is simple, namely, to provide a descriptive account of the temporal dependencies of occupational safety and health (OSH) rules in terms of the time-bound conditions inherent in these formal rules. And also temporal dependencies in terms of the temporally interdependent characters of formal OSH rules, or the fact that certain formal OSH rules possess variant temporal dependent meanings. The article considers the significance of temporality to statutory rules and judicial decisions concerning the safety and health protections accorded to workers in law. It presents the temporality of OSH law and policy proclamations in three ways: in terms of time of the past, that is, presenting workers OSH entitlements in law as formal protection that are determined by historical interpretations or meanings; in terms of time as the present, that is, explaining the rights of workers based on the existing positive rules of OSH law; and, in terms of time in view of the future, in which case OSH law and policy are presented in view of futuristic OSH rules, yet to be established OSH rules and the preventative paradigm for regulating the health and safety entitlements of workers. The ways in which time bend formal OSH rules are further presented in view of how recent European case laws and regulations influence: the jurisprudence of the preventative paradigm, statutory time-bar, the principle of direct effect in Francovich liability, and (quantum of) OSH liability. The article concludes that i) looking at temporality from these three canons of regulation is crucial for better forms of OSH regulation, and ii) that time is central to most OSH rules which are declared by formal authorities.

Making Them Pay

This article looks at occupational safety and health (OSH) regulatory models by deconstructing the two prevailing business practices that shape the OSH right of workers. The two practices are: the introspective, and the extrospective OSH. The article further presents the legal, social, and economic factors driving the OSH standards adopted by enterprises, thereby exposing an increasingly challenging problem facing the two models. This challenge is the trans-territorial OSH problem - a scenario where occupational dangers caused by a given employer are transported to workers in other occupational environments—outside the employer’s scope of legal liability. Three key methods are used for analyses: doctrinal approach, interdisciplinary approach, and comparative approach. The doctrinal analysis includes a descriptive overview of OSH so as to show how the right to OSH eludes some workers due to the trans-territorial OSH problem. It covers the overall approaches used, to deconstruct legal, institutional, and economic factors that shape OSH regulation. The interdisciplinary elements of the analysis concern: an analysis of OSH law; an analysis of the economic and social factors that drive corporate behaviors, including corporate views of OSH regulation; and the use of environmental factors to demonstrate the trans-territorial challenge. Drawing insights from the literature, the comparative method used concerns: an analysis of the OSH pratices of some large enterprises in the United States, and the EU OSH perspective—particularly the OSH model practiced by enterprises in France. It is shown that while the American OSH model is introspective in character, the EU model is extrospective.

The Effect of Occupational Safety Legislation in Preventing Accidents at Work: Traditional versus Advanced Manufacturing Industries

We analyze the effect of occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation in reducing workplace accidents. It is argued that different impacts should be expected in advanced and traditional manufacturing sectors. We test this hypothesis with data on Spanish manufacturing throughout the period 1988–2004. To that effect, we estimate the relationship between the number of serious injuries and the potential risk factors, by means of diverse specifications of the negative binomial regression model for panel data. Our results indicate that, while the adoption of the new OSH regulation did contribute to the reduction in the number of injuries in advanced manufacturing sectors, the accident rates in traditional manufacturing did not show any statistically significant change following the reform.

Body Mass Index Change after One Year from a Health Examination and its Relation to Attitudes toward Lifestyle Change in Japanese Male Workers

In Japan, members of the workforce undergo a general health examination (GHE) in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) law and related regulations. Because of a marked increase in the number of workers with health risk factors related to lifestyle, the focus of the GHE is gradually shifting to prevention of lifestyle-related diseases. Under the 1996 amendments to the OSH law and regulations, an employer is required to obtain a physician’s opinion regarding the GHE results, act to improve occupational health standards on the basis of GHE results, to provide an occupational health nurse and health care support related to GHE results, and to report GHE results to all workers individually. The sooner these measures are implemented after the examination, the more effectively worker health is promoted. Self-care is the most important healthpromoting behavior because of its simplicity, immediacy and effectiveness. The practical benefits of the GHE depend upon how well the results are acted upon. The occupational health system in Japan requires employers to make practical use of the GHE results. In a previous study, we found a relation in workers between negative attitudes toward the reports on GHE results and the need for medical treatment. But it is unclear whether workers’ attitudes toward the GHE results are associated with their ongoing health status. In the present study, we investigated whether attitudes toward the GHE report influenced the examination results one year later and also investigated workers’ self-reported lifestyle changes in response to the report. For the purpose of this study, we chose to focus on body mass index (BMI) because several reports indicate that obesity is one of the most important occupational health problems in Japan. In this study, blood pressure (BP) was also analyzed.

Regulation and Productivity

We investigate the impact of occupational safety and health (OSH) and environmental regulation on the rate of growth of total factor productivity (TFP) in the Quebec manufacturing sector during the 1985–88 period. Our results show that environmental regulation and OSH protective reassignments (a prevention policy with respect to OSH) have led to a reduction in productivity growth, while the presence of mandatory prevention programs and of fines for infractions to OSH rules have led to an increase in productivity growth. Interestingly, this is, to our knowledge, the first result showing that OSH regulation may have had a positive effect on productivity growth.