Managing Health, Safety and Well-Being

251 Pages·2018·3.29 MB·English

by  Aditya Jain

Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being
Aditya Jain
Stavroula Leka
Gerard I. J. M. Zwetsloot
Managing
Health, Safety
and Well-Being
Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability
Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety
and Well-Being
Series editors
Stavroula Leka, Centre for Organizational Health and Development, University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Aditya Jain, Nottingham University Business School and Centre for Organizational
Health and Development, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Gerard Zwetsloot, Gerard Zwetsloot Research & Consultancy, Amsterdam,
The Netherlands and Centre for Organizational Health and Development,
University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Raising awareness of the interdisciplinary and complementary relationship of
different research perspectives on health, safety and well-being is the main aim of
the book series Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-being. Combined
research approaches on health, safety and well-being are becoming more and more
popular in several research disciplines across and between the social, behavioural
and medical sciences. Therefore, Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and
Well- being stimulates the publication of interdisciplinary approaches to the
promotion of health, safety and well-being. Recognizing a need within societies
and workplaces for more integrated approaches to problem solving, the series
caters to the notion that most innovation stems from combining knowledge and
research results from related but so far separated areas. Volumes will be edited by
expert authors and editors and will contain contributions from different disciplines.
All authors, and especially volume editors are encouraged to engage in developing
more robust theoretical models that can be applied in actual practice and lead to
policy development. Editorial Board: Professor Johannes Siegrist, University of
Dusseldorf, Germany Professor Peter Chen, University of South Australia
Professor Katherine Lippel, University of Ottawa, Canada Professor Nicholas
Ashford, MIT, USA, Dr Steve Sauter, NIOSH, USA, Dr Peter Hasle, Aalborg
University, Denmark
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10757
Aditya Jain • Stavroula Leka
Gerard I.J.M. Zwetsloot
Managing Health, Safety
and Well-Being
Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability
Aditya Jain Stavroula Leka
Nottingham University Business School and Centre for Organizational Health and
Centre for Organizational Health and Development
Development University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham Nottingham, UK
Nottingham, UK
Gerard I.J.M. Zwetsloot
Gerard Zwetsloot Research & Consultancy
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Centre for Organizational Health and
Development
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, UK
ISSN 2213-0497 ISSN 2213-0470 (electronic)
Aligning Perspectives on Health, Safety and Well-Being
ISBN 978-94-024-1259-8 ISBN 978-94-024-1261-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1261-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930017
© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018
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Foreword
In the last decades, the world of work has faced deep changes due to numerous
social, economic and technological factors.
The demographic change, resulting from the general increase of the population’s
life expectancy, has led to a progressive ageing of the working population, with an
increase in the share of the population aged between 55 and 65 years still actively
involved in the work market at global level. Ageing of the workforce is also sup-
ported by economic factors which, in recent years, let to numerous social security
reforms, with a gradual increase in the retirement age.
Also technological innovation has had significant effects on the world of work.
In fact, the introduction of new work processes and emerging risks led to the need
to rethink OSH management models, in order to allow a prolonged working life in
good health, taking into account the protection of workers’ health and overall well-
being while ensuring maintenance of companies’ productivity.
The present book is certainly able to give a satisfactory answer to the challenges
that occupational health and safety professionals as well as policy makers are fac-
ing. The paradigm shift from the traditional occupational safety and health manage-
ment to the implementation of practices that combine safety and health with
well-being concepts will certainly support improved functioning and sustainable
development of workplaces, with a positive impact on the society at large as well.
Acknowledging the interdisciplinarity and complementarity of perspectives of
the different stakeholders involved, this book aims at stimulating dialogue among
key experts from different disciplines on the development of robust theoretical mod-
els that can be applied in practice and lead to a more comprehensive policy
development.
The book explores the different ways in which good health, safety and well-
being (HSW) practices can benefit businesses, not only in terms of company’s pro-
ductivity but also within the larger scope of good employment practices, which may
include integration of health, safety and well-being into human resources manage-
ment, and human rights and social responsibility policies.
v
vi Foreword
The authors, also thanks to their well-combined fields of expertise, address the
issue in a structured way offering a comprehensive overview that ranges from the
state of the art of HSW at the workplace to the business case.
An in-depth analysis of needs, both in terms of practical implementation and
policy, allows identifying the different levels of intervention through which research-
ers, HSW professionals/practitioners and policy makers can implement the model in
compliance with its multidisciplinary characteristics and ethical principles devel-
oped under international standards.
Ethics is a key element of responsible business practices, and the potential of an
approach to the promotion of HSW based on human rights dimension as well as on
ethical principles, particularly in relation to international operations and global sup-
ply chains, is well explored across the book.
The book also offers good examples of risk management systems, indicators,
tools, internal regulations and guidance to mainstream HSW into business opera-
tions and practices and the best ways to coordinate them for the achievement of key
targets and outcomes. I have no doubt that this book is an invaluable contribution to
the scientific knowledge in this field.
Secretary General, Sergio Iavicoli
International Commission on Occupational Health
Milan, Italy
Preface
Health, safety and well-being (HSW) are at the core of workplace and societal func-
tioning and development. However, the world of work is changing rapidly, under the
influence of rapid technological developments (e.g. ICT), increasing global compe-
tition, major demographic changes (including ageing and migration) and new gov-
ernmental policies (e.g. soft law). As a result, the current state of the art indicates
that approaches that have been used to promote HSW have had limited results. It is
therefore time to critically review key perspectives to HSW promotion in the work-
place and work towards their alignment if progress is to be achieved in a sustainable
way.
The promotion of HSW is an important topic in several fields of research.
Therefore, raising awareness of the interdisciplinarity and complementarity of dif-
ferent perspectives and synergies that can be enhanced in policy, research and prac-
tice is the main focus of this book. In doing so, it aims to stimulate dialogue among
key experts from different disciplines on the development of more robust theoretical
models that can be applied in practice and lead to policy development.
Most of the traditional policies and methods for dealing with HSW at work were
developed and tested in a much less dynamic era and have had only limited results
in the present time of turbulence and increased complexity. As a result, HSW poli-
cies and management approaches are often lagging behind the realities in the work-
place. The book aims to discuss how alignment of perspectives can be achieved by
referring to HSW integrated approaches that go beyond fragmented efforts in the
respective silos of health, safety and well-being, which are still dominant in the
world of science and in practice. That is a necessary step to dealing adequately with
the present challenges, before getting ‘buy-in’ by leaders in business or
policymaking.
A key challenge is to get HSW higher on the agenda of senior management, and
to develop approaches that generate ‘double dividends’: being good for HSW but
also being good for business. Likewise, at the policy level it is important to develop
approaches that are good for HSW at work, but also good for employment and qual-
ity of work, public health, innovation or economic and social development.
vii
viii Preface
Another key challenge is to tune the dynamics of HSW management and policies
with today’s dynamics of changes in organizations and society. This requires orga-
nizations to deal proactively with HSW and to develop an organizational culture
that is conducive for HSW, requiring HSW leadership as well as the adoption and
promotion of HSW-related values and practices that are supported by key stake-
holders including, of course, managers and workers.
These challenges require a strategic reorientation in HSW, whereby knowledge
is no longer focused only on HSW risks and their management but is increasingly
also focused on a broad array of opportunities for synergies with areas that have
traditionally not been addressed in HSW (or were only regarded as boundary situa-
tions). In this book opportunities for such synergies are therefore the centre of focus
in several chapters on the business case for HSW, responsible and ethical business
practices relevant for HSW and mainstreaming HSW.
The book explores the many ways in which good business and good HSW can go
together, including embedding HSW in strategic management, evaluating organiza-
tional interventions and integrating HSW into the planning and control cycle of
organizations and performance management, or into workplace innovations, human
resource management and human rights and social responsibility policies. Besides
the ‘harder’ approaches (e.g. planning and programmes), also ‘softer’ approaches
(e.g. integrating HSW into values, culture and leadership) come to the fore. For
HSW to become an opportunity for major policy and business agendas, new and
often multidisciplinary types of research are required to deliver the necessary evi-
dence to support decision-making. Mixed-method approaches in research, taking
into account the various perspectives of key stakeholders in HSW (beyond the tra-
ditional tripartite stakeholders and HSW experts), should be implemented.
The introductory chapter will present a review of the current state of the art in
relation to HSW at work. The chapter will outline key issues in relation to HSW in
the contemporary world and will discuss new and emerging risks and several related
outcomes. At the same time, the various perspectives on HSW that have been devel-
oped over the years will be outlined, highlighting synergies.
Following up from the first chapter, the second chapter will outline approaches
that have been used to address identified priorities at the policy level, including hard
(obligatory) and soft (voluntary) approaches. The chapter will highlight the merits
and challenges of these approaches and identify gaps in practice. It will also high-
light new integrated approaches and present examples aiming at the development of
healthy workplaces, HSW value-based strategies and promoting job quality.
Chapter 3 will more specifically explore the business case to the promotion of
HSW as this is recognized as a key priority in current literature. There is a wealth of
data demonstrating that in the long term, the most successful and competitive com-
panies are those that have the best health and safety records and the most physically
and mentally healthy and satisfied workers.
Business responsibility and sustainability will be the focus on Chapter 4.
Businesses are required to assume a more responsible role towards all their stake-
holders. The chapter will consider the extent to which responsible business practice
initiatives take HSW into consideration and will identify existing gaps. This chapter
Preface ix
will also highlight the link between responsible business practices and
sustainability.
Key in the area of business responsibility is ethics and a human rights dimension,
particularly in relation to international operations and global supply chains. Chapter
5 will therefore build on Chapter 4 and discuss the potential of a human rights-based
approach to the promotion of HSW in light of developments at policy level linking
HSW explicitly to the human rights agenda.
Chapter 6 will then focus on mainstreaming HSW in business operations and
practices. Different avenues for mainstreaming will be discussed including the use
of risk management systems, indicators, tools, internal regulations and guidance.
Although such avenues are common in everyday business practice, they are rarely
co-ordinated to achieve key targets and outcomes. Business values should be used
as the starting point for businesses to mainstream key objectives. This chapter will
critically evaluate the different avenues that have been used and identify gaps that
can be addressed to achieve desired outcomes sustainably.
The final chapter of this book will revisit the evidence, perspectives and
approaches presented in the previous chapters and draw out key messages for the
future. It will address existing needs both in policy and practice in order to align
perspectives and address HSW in its totality and in a multi- and interdisciplinary
manner. The chapter will discuss how the complementarity and synergies among
different perspectives can be enhanced in research and practice. It will also high-
light how aligning perspectives and mainstreaming HSW can be achieved in policy-
making and at the organizational context to promote sustainability. Finally, important
actions needed by policymakers, managers, workers, HSW professionals/practitio-
ners and researchers will be highlighted, and key directions for the future in terms
of research and practice will be identified.
HSW needs to come on equal terms with economics, public health and business
ethics. It needs to develop more strategically into being an area that is creating syn-
ergies with the dominant areas mentioned, but can also benefit from synergies stem-
ming from developments in these related dominant areas. This will require a
reorientation of (parts of) the HSW (policy, research and practice) community in
order to be able to realize (and provide evidence of) the opportunities for improving
HSW in the new era. The authors hope to contribute to these developments with this
book and to inspire the readers to also explore the challenges for research, policy-
making and management associated with the developments and opportunities
described.
Nottingham, UK Aditya Jain
Nottingham, UK Stavroula Leka
Amsterdam, The Netherlands Gerard I.J.M. Zwetsloot