Territorial efficiency: Analysis of the role of public work safety controls

Abstract

This study analyzes the efficiency of Spanish provinces in a model that incorporates occupational health and safety (OHS) policy controls and work accidents into the analysis. Building on productivity models rooted in non-parametric frontier methods, namely Data Envelopment Analysis, the proposed approach allows the development of a production function that accurately models the joint production of desirable (GDP) and undesirable (work accidents) outputs. The efficiency analysis of the 50 Spanish provinces during 2003-2012 reveals that territories that drastically cut resources dedicated to OHS controls-in our case, safety inspections and economic sanctions for safety violations-show higher inefficiency levels. Nevertheless, the changes in OHS policies introduced by Spanish provinces after the change in the state of the economy in 2008 had a heterogeneous impact on their efficiency level. Effective OHS policy is not necessarily linked to merely implementing more OHS policy controls, but rather to the capacity of territories to efficiently allocate their available OHS resources and monitor business activity. Policy implications and future research avenues are discussed.

Workers’ behavior after safety regulations: Impact evaluation of the Spanish Occupational Safety and Health Act

“…Researchers have also focused on the direct relationship between the economic cycle and work accident rate as another external relevant factor attention (e.g., Lanoie, 1992;Davies et al;Svensson, 2010;Asfaw et al 2011;Boone et al, 2011;Song et al, 2011;Lafuente et al 2020or Lafuente et al, 2021. According to two traditional theories, the basic idea is that the economic cycle affects the production factors, and this may influence work-related accidents.…”

Evolution of occupational illness in Spain during 2009-2020: Territorial and industrial trends

“…Workplace safety is an increasingly important topic around the world with important economic and societal implications (Kivimäki et al, 2015;ILO, 2019;Lafuente & Abad, 2021). In this sense, governments and organizations are increasingly deploying resources to support respectively policies and practices that help stimulate social wealth and enhance work environments (Piore & Schrank, 2018;Lafuente & Daza, 2020;Lafuente & Abad, 2021).…”

“…Workplace safety is an increasingly important topic around the world with important economic and societal implications (Kivimäki et al, 2015;ILO, 2019;Lafuente & Abad, 2021). In this sense, governments and organizations are increasingly deploying resources to support respectively policies and practices that help stimulate social wealth and enhance work environments (Piore & Schrank, 2018;Lafuente & Daza, 2020;Lafuente & Abad, 2021). In this sense, perhaps because of data availability issues, underlying the design of such policies and practices is the common assumption that work accidents and illnesses can be treated and analyzed under a homogeneous framework.…”

“…The structure of current data systems has many times conditioned research efforts. Most studies specifically dealing with work safety issues at national or sub-national levels have focused on either the study of work accidents or the aggregate analysis of work accidents and illnesses (Lafuente & Abad, 2021).…”

Analysis of Factors Affecting Employee Performance at Aetra Regional Drinking Water Company of Jakarta (PDAM)

“…Factors that can affect employee performance may include abilities and expertise, knowledge, work design, personality, work motivation, leadership, leadership style, organizational culture, job satisfaction, work environment, loyalty, commitment, and work discipline (Adrizayani, 2014;Kummetha et al, 2020). Of the various factors that affect employee performance described above, this research only discusses work discipline and work environment which are narrowed in scope through occupational safety and health (Adzim, 2021;Lafuente & Abad, 2021;Rahman, 2020).…”