Complaining about occupational safety and health: a barrier for collaboration between managers and workers on construction sites

Abstract

Collaborative safety practices between construction site managers and workers are considered essential in occupational safety and health (OSH). However, establishing joint OSH engagement between managers and workers is still a challenge. Little is known about how managers and workers' "complaining" about OSH affects collective OSH action and the quality of managerworker relations. Drawing on an understanding of complaining as "boundary work", this study empirically analyses how managers and workers' verbalisations either downplay (collaboration) or build (demarcation) boundaries. Interviews and observations between managers and workers were carried out on a construction project in Denmark to identify why and how complaining is used. A typology consisting of four "complaining" mechanisms was developed, highlighting their associated relational dynamics: (1) Shifting responsibility for advancing OSH, (2) Defending oneself against strained working conditions, (3) Dealing strategically with criticism, and (4) Blaming other occupational groups. Complaining about OSH as boundary workboth collaboration and demarcationbetween managers and workers furthers professional fragmentation and conflicts OSH collaboration, yet it occurs in a "safe space" for professional disagreement. We suggest that these communicational aspects and associated relational dynamics should be an area of increased focus in order to promote managers and workers' OSH collaboration.

‘We were the Guinea pigs’: Police uncertainty enforcing coronavirus regulations in the UK.

“…Although I will never know the reasons why the remaining eight officers did not respond, the original request asked for officers to discuss their fears and anxieties of policing the pandemic with little to no personal protective equipment (PPE), and to ruminate on managerial response. Originally officers voluntarily contacted me, and so it is very possible, judging by the divulgences and disclosures in the papers published by the author on these early interviews ( De Camargo 2021a , 2021b , 2021c ; De Camargo and Whiley 2021 ), that some officers used the opportunity to air grievances, complaining ‘in a safe space’ with promised anonymity ( Jeschke et al, 2021 ). I did not offer them any compensation for their time, and often researcher-researched relationships are based on some level of reciprocity.…”

Princípios de design para apoio à participação em sistemas de gestão da segurança resilientes na construção

“…A participação é explorada na literatura geralmente em práticas isoladas e desvinculadas do sistema de gestão como um todo (HESS et al, 2020;ALBRECHTSEN;SOLBERG;SVENSLI, 2019). Outros estudos, no entanto, enfocam diferentes aspectos da participação no sistema de gestão da segurança, mas não orientados explicitamente pela ER (ANDERSEN;GRYTNES, 2021;JESCHKE et al, 2021). Embora a literatura evidencie, ainda que de forma fragmentada, que muitas das barreiras à participação decorrem de condições ambientais desfavoráveis, parte-se da premissa que o projeto do sistema pode contribuir à sua redução.…”