How logical is safety? An institutional logics perspective on safety at work

Key issues of health and safety for workers in residential aged care: An expert study

Introduction

Residential aged care (RAC) represents a fast-growing sector within Australia's health care system and is characterized by high levels of workplace injury. To better understand this injury problem, this study investigated key informant perspectives concerning sector occupational health and safety (OHS) focused on key issues associated with the risk of worker injury.

Method

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with nine key informants representing (OHS) specialists, healthcare employers, regulators, worker association representatives, and academic researchers in OHS or healthcare. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

This study identified six themes on OHS within RAC including (i) the physical and emotional nature of the work, (ii) casualization of employment, (iii) prioritization, (iv) workforce profile, (v) OHS role construction, and (vi) clinical standards. The study highlighted differences in OHS roles between RAC and other safety-critical sectors regarding governance and management of OHS. The key informants identified a propensity within RAC to downplay or disregard worker OHS issues justified through prioritizing resident safety. Further, neither OHS professional nor institutional logics are prominent in RAC leadership and decision-making where the emphasis is placed on mandatory standards to maintain funding purposes. Several recommendations are made to address identified issues.

Promoting blue-collar employees’ work ability: A qualitative study on occupational health practitioners’ perspective on feasible interventions

BACKGROUND: Work in the industrial sector underlies deep structural changes triggered by demographic and societal transformations. These developments require tailored measures for maintaining employees’ work ability by reacting to new demands and overcoming barriers in organizational implementation. Previous research lacks in considering practitioners’ perspective in terms of tailoring effective interventions to the workplace conditions of blue-collar employees. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to enrich the understanding of work ability by using the job-demands-resources (JDR)-theory and the work ability house concept as basis and considering aspects of organizational measures’ feasibility. METHODS: Data results from observations of the collaboration between occupational health professionals and supervisors on the shop-floor and n = 18 semi-structured interviews with different occupational health stakeholders. A participatory and qualitative approach characterizes this study. RESULTS: The study participants report on how increasing organizational demands of efficiency and uncertainty affect workability promotion of blue-collar employees. Furthermore, the findings imply aspects regarding feasible interventions. For designing effective interventions, specifically psychosocial aspects such as work intensification, job uncertainty, work-life-conflicts, and inter-personal trust need to be addressed. Measures need to be aligned better to the industrial setting with specific focus on decision-makers’ interests and intra-organizational collaboration. CONCLUSION: Further research should investigate interrelationships between relevant psycho-social job demands and resources. Moreover, additional aspects, which are related to measures implementation in the organizational sphere, need to be identified. Practical implications connect organizational sciences with the workability theory and the job-demands-resources (JDR)-theory by focusing more on psychological work design and intra-organizational collaboration.