WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY

Health and safety performance of a workplace



Abstract

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.

Abstract2

1. Introduction4

1.1. Conceptual framework5

1.2. Literature review7

1.3. Objectives10

2. Methods12

2.1. Mail questionnaire12

2.2. Sampling procedure13

2.3. Telephone interviews14

2.4. Data analysis15

3. Results16

3.1. Respondents16

3.2. Descriptive characteristics of workplaces17

3.3. Company paternalism18

3.4. Managerial attitudes and commitment to OHS20

3.5. OHS training and characteristics of the work environment24

3.6. Management-labour relations: the Joint Health and Safety Committee (JHSC)24

3.7. Labour practices and attitudes25

4. Discussion29

4.1. Substantive findings29

4.2. Strengths35

4.3. Limitations37

5. Conclusion40

References41

Health and safety performance of a workplace

1. Introduction

In their overview of the literature, Hale and Hovden (1998) have suggested several stages in the progress of occupational health and safety (OHS) research. Early literature in the field concentrated exclusively on the physical work environment, whereas subsequent research emphasized the individual as the unit of analysis, and largely focused upon the behaviours of workers in accounting for injuries. Since then, researchers have broadened their investigative scope by emphasizing structural factors related to occupational injuries. In the engineering model, injuries are regarded as a consequence of human-machine interactions, and not simply human error or mistakes (see also [Lucas, 1990] and [Reason, 1997]) so that workplaces can be made safer through the better design of work environments. A second model, which Hale and Hovden (1998) suggest characterizes contemporary safety research, is the organizational model. In this model occupational safety is predicated on a broad class of factors subsumed under the term “management systems.” Studies of, for example, safety culture or safety climate are specific forms of this approach, and attempt to move beyond structural explanations by exposing what Hale and Hovden describe as the “motor for performance” behind OHS. The current study builds upon the theory of work organization, and explores the role of various organizational-level factors in the health and safety performance of manufacturing firms in the Canadian province of Ontario.

1.1. Conceptual framework

Drawing upon the literature available at the time, Shannon et al. (1992) reported an organizational-factors model and tested it on a sample of workplaces in ...