Managing work health and safety: recent developments and future directions

Abstract

Effective management of occupational health and safety (OHS) continues to pose a challenge to many organisations. While significant advancement has occurred in knowledge about traditional workplace risks, organisational and labour market changes have created new risks, psychosocial risks are more prevalent, and the trend towards the adoption of OHS management systems has produced only mixed results. These issues are the focus of this review of recent developments in workplace health and safety. We argue there is a need for organisations to refocus systematically on a collaborative approach to identifying and controlling workplace risks, and on improving the integration of OHS into broader systems and every day management to better meet existing and future OHS challenges.Keywords: occupational health and safety management systems, precarious employment, psychosocial risks Shortly after the introduction of 'Robens' type occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation throughout Australia in the mid-1980s, Hetzel (1990) wrote in this journal both that organisations were slow to respond to the legislative changes, and that 'occupational health and safety will continue to struggle as a central part of management' (p. 79). More than two decades have passed yet OHS still appears vulnerable to being sidelined. While some organisational practices have lifted the profile of OHS at board level, such as the inclusion of OHS data in company annual reports (O'Neill 2009), others have either contributed to new risks or failed to fully deliver improvements because of conflicting organisational priorities. This review of recent developments and future directions in OHS Correspondence: Dr Elsa Underhill, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Melbourne, Australia; e-mail: elsa.underhill@deakin.edu.au Accepted for publication 12 December 2011. Key points1 Changes in the labour market pose significant challenges for management of OHS and contribute to the growing incidence of psychosocial injury. 2 There is a need to reaffirm the basic building blocks to achieve at-source solutions for enduring workplace health and safety change.

Developing a concept for external audits of psychosocial risks in certified occupational health and safety management systems

“…Several scholars have reported that the management of psychosocial risks is generally not included in auditing (Hohnen and Hasle, 2011;Robson et al, 2012;Gallagher and Underhill, 2012;Hasle and Zwetsloot, 2011;Jespersen et al, 2016a). The main reasons for this flaw in the system can be traced to two interlinked issues: (a) the nature of psychosocial risks and, (b) the understanding of evidence used in audits.…”

“…Employee involvement is thus important in all stages of the psychosocial risk management process, and this source of knowledge is necessary in order to collect valid and reliable evidence (Leka et al, 2008;BSI, 2011). It also follows that informal aspectsmeaning how employees experience and interpret management measures -become even more important than formal aspects for understanding the causes of the psychosocial work environment and finding solutions for improving it (Bluff and Gunningham, 2004;Gallagher and Underhill, 2012).…”

Danger zone: Men, masculinity and occupational health and safety in high risk occupations

“…Temporary work can produce deleterious effects due to the enhanced exposure to uncertain and precarious working arrangements and the decreased provision and monitoring of OH&S standards (Gagliarducci, 2005;Law Commission of Ontario, 2012;Lippel et al, 2011;Virtanen et al, 2005;Gallagher and Underhill, 2012). For example, temporary workers in the construction industry are at greater risk for falls due to inadequate OH&S training, lack of use of personal protective equipment, and poor workplace health and safety management systems (Arcury et al, 2014;Dong et al, 2009).…”

The Wicked Character of Psychosocial Risks: Implications for Regulation

“…Leka et al (2011) argue that OHSAS 18001 does not explicitly and adequately deal with psychosocial risks. This argument has been expanded at both the theoretical and the empirical levels in a number of studies (Frick & Kempa, 2011;Gallagher & Underhill, 2012;Hohnen & Hasle, 2011). Two new management standards have been published that focus specifically on regulating psychosocial risks, and they are trying to remedy the problem by specifically addressing these risks.…”

“…However, the OHSAS 18001 offers little or no guidance on how to carry out audits of psychosocial risks, and the auditors, like government inspectors, are left with a difficult task at the workplace. As a consequence, management of psychosocial risks is generally not included in audits (Gallagher & Underhill, 2012;Hohnen & Hasle, 2011;Jespersen et al, 2016;Robson et al, 2012). The exclusion of psychosocial risks has been related to the way audits of the management system are carried out (Hasle & Zwetsloot, 2011).…”