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

Andersen, Johan Hviid; Malmros, Per; Ebbehoej, Niels Erik; Flachs, Esben Meulengracht; Bengtsen, Elizabeth; Bonde, Jens Peter

doi:10.5271/sjweh.3775

Cited by 61 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Nevertheless, regarding intervention on small enterprises, a review of studies published before 2006 reported a lack of evaluation, in terms of both effect and practical applicability. The most effective preventive approaches seemed to be simple and low-cost solutions, disseminated through personal contact [ 21 ]. A later systematic review was undertaken to identify effective interventions to improve HSW conditions in small businesses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002–2016

Campo

Cegolon

Merich

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background: A national database of work-related injuries has been established in Italy since 2002, collecting information on the injured person, his/her work tasks, the workplace and the risk factors contributing to incident dynamics, according to a model called Infor.Mo. Methods: A descriptive study of occupational fatal injuries, excluding work-related fatal traffic injuries, that occurred in Italy from 2002 to 2016 (15 years) was performed. Results: Among 4874 victims involved, all were males, mainly >51 years of age (43.2%), predominantly self-employed (27.8%) or workers with non-standard contracts (25%). About 18.4% and 17.3% of fatal events occurred in micro-enterprises belonging to, respectively, construction and agriculture. A wide range of nationalities (59 countries in addition to Italy) was identified. Overall, 18.9% of work-related fatal injuries were due to some form of hazardous energy—mechanical, thermal, electrical or chemical—that was normally present in the workplace. Workers’ falls from height (33.5%), heavy loads falling on workers from height (16.7%) and vehicles exiting their route and overturning (15.9%) were the events causing the greatest proportion of occupational fatal injuries in the present study (from 2002 to 2016) and in the initial pilot phase, focused on years 2002–2004, with a similar distribution of fatal events between the two time periods. The activity of the injured person made up 43.3% of 9386 risk factors identified in 4874 fatalities. Less common risk factors were related to work equipment (20.2%), work environment (14.9%), third–party activity (9.8%), personal protective equipment/clothing (8.0%) and materials (3.7%). The activity of the injured person remained the most relevant contributing factor even when the incident was caused by two or more risk factors. Discussion: Occupational fatal injuries occurred mainly in small size firms (up to nine employees) in hazardous workplaces. Small companies, which account for 68% (2888/4249) of all firms in the present study, generally have fewer resources to remain current with the continuously evolving health and safety at work regulations; moreover, these firms tend to be less compliant with health and safety at work regulations since they are less likely to be inspected by occupational vigilance services. Perspectives: An approach being introduced in Italy relies on the use of economic incentives to promote safe and healthy workplaces. The comparison of pre-intervention and post-intervention rates of work-related injuries by means of interrupted time series analyses could detect whether the intervention will have an effect significantly greater than the underlying secular trend.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002–2016

Campo

Cegolon

Merich

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…There are even comparative studies that have found an inverse relationship between union strength and occupational accident levels among European countries [22][23][24]. More recent research would go some way to criticizing approaches that focus solely on studying the direct relationship between the presence of collective representation in companies and risk prevention document management or its impact on reducing incidence rates for accidents at work [25][26][27][28]. These studies from a holistic perspective seek to understand both the external and internal determinants of the workplace that influence the effectiveness of worker participation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies from a holistic perspective seek to understand both the external and internal determinants of the workplace that influence the effectiveness of worker participation. In this sense, the following external determinants can be identified: macrocontextual factors, related to policies and systems of legal regulation of occupational health [28,29], such as the capacity of representatives and workers to paralyze productive activity in the face of serious or imminent risk [30]; the promotion of regulations that reward the integration of the prevention management system through its own means to facilitate participation [31]; the promotion of participation through the requirements of the labour inspection [32], regulations that do not systematically make technicians responsible for the prevention of accidents in companies to prevent expert knowledge from blocking participation [33]; or the promotion of policies for the representation of interests that facilitate decentralised self-regulation through the participation of autonomous trade unions [27,34]. The internal factors that influence the effectiveness of participation are business leadership and willingness to promote a participatory culture [35][36][37][38][39][40]; training and empowerment of workers and their representatives to collectively challenge unsafe situations [37][38][39]; the size of the workplace and the sector of activity to the extent that participation is greater in larger workplaces and in industries where occupational risks are more evident [18,27,41]; in addition, greater capacity for participation will exist when specialized occupational health representation is unionized [42] or has strong external support from the union [43,44].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of the Direct Participation of Workers on the Rates of Absenteeism in the Spanish Labor Environment

Castiblanque

2020

IJERPH

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The aim of this research was to study the relationship between the different levels of direct participation of workers (passive, consultative or active-delegated) in risk prevention management with the levels of absenteeism in Spain. To this end, a transversal study was carried out using microdata from the Second European Survey of Companies on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2-Spain, 2014) with a master population of 3162 work centres. A multinomial logistic regression model was carried out, with the dependent variable being the levels of absenteeism and the independent variables, the participation indicators and preventive management, calculating the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) between all the independent and control variables, with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% IC). The results obtained showed how the active-delegative participation of workers in the design and adoption of psychosocial risk prevention measures reported 2.33 less probabilities of having a very high or fairly high level of absenteeism (aOR = 0.43; 95%IC:0.27–0.69). However, having documented aspects of preventive management (plan, risk assessment, planning measures) did not have any impact on absenteeism levels, which shows that we can fall into an unrealistic institutional mirage of security with active policies of co-education or co-management being necessary to reduce absenteeism.

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“…Further, Robson et al reviewed articles on the effectiveness of occupational health and safety management system interventions and found that only 1 of 23 articles described an intervention study with a sufficiently high methodological quality (35). Moreover, in the review of OSH interventions by Andersen et al (6) the authors concluded that the overall quality of evidence was limited and at best moderate, and Roeloef et al (36) reviewed control strategies for chemical hazards published during 1993-1999 and showed that intervention effectiveness was not consistently evaluated. The general low study quality in our review and in mentioned reviews is possibly related to common difficulties in executing high quality intervention studies in the occupational field.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interventions to Reduce Exposures in the Workplace: A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies Over Six Decades, 1960–2019

Ohlander

Kromhout

Tongeren

2020

Front. Public Health

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Background: Reducing occupational ill-health from chemical and biological agents is realized primarily through the mitigation and elimination of hazardous exposures. Despite evidence of declining exposure in European and North-American workplaces, comprehensive studies of the effectiveness of workplace interventions for reducing hazardous exposure and associated work-related ill-health seem rare. We reviewed occupational intervention studies targeting exposure to chemical and biological agents, and determined trends in frequency and quality of such studies. Methods: We searched Embase, Medline, and Web of Science for peer-reviewed original articles on occupational intervention studies published 1960-2019, aimed at reducing workers' exposure to dusts, gases, fumes, or liquids of chemical, biological, or mineral nature, or workers' risks for associated health outcomes. The frequency of articles, intervention types, intervention endpoints, and study quality of published intervention studies between 1960 and 2019 and according to 10-year intervals were analyzed. Results: Of 3,663 retrieved articles, 146 intervention studies were identified and reviewed, of which 63 concerned control measures, 43 behavioral change, 28 use of personal protective equipment, and 12 workplace policies. Intervention endpoints were occupational exposures (73%), health outcomes (22%), and a combination of both (5%). Of reviewed studies, 38% involved a control group, 16% randomized the intervention, 86% were planned interventions, and 86% compared exposure or health outcomes pre and post intervention. Over time the number of intervention studies identified in this search increased from none during 1960-1969 to ∼60 during 2000-2009 and 2010-2019, respectively. The study quality improved over time, with no studies during 1960-1989 that complied with the highest quality criteria. During 2000-2009 and 2010-2019 16 and 12% of studies, respectively, were judged to be of highest quality. Conclusion: Despite an improvement over the last six decades in the frequency and quality of intervention studies targeting exposure to chemicals and biological agents, the absolute number of intervention studies remains low, particularly when considering Ohlander et al. Interventions in Occupational Health only high quality studies. Occupational exposure to chemical and biological agents is still causing excessive disease in workforces worldwide. To reduce occupational ill-health caused by these exposures, it is important to expand the evidence on (cost-)effectiveness and transferability of interventions to reduce exposure and health effects.

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

Cited by 61 publications

References 44 publications

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002–2016

The Italian National Surveillance System for Occupational Injuries: Conceptual Framework and Fatal Outcomes, 2002–2016

The Impact of the Direct Participation of Workers on the Rates of Absenteeism in the Spanish Labor Environment

Interventions to Reduce Exposures in the Workplace: A Systematic Review of Intervention Studies Over Six Decades, 1960–2019

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