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Research Essay

Occupational Health & Safety and Employee Well-Being

May 2011

By: Pal-Stian Hoimyr Arnesen Student ID: 0954200

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Introduction Occupational health & safety (OHS) and employee well-being is becoming increasingly more important in every organisation and with the changing nature of work. Organisations in the western world have changed significantly in the last 20 years and businesses today are operating in a higher competitive environment than ever before (Hill, 2009). The increased pressure to keep prices down and productivity and performance up creates new and difficult conditions at the workplace (Rasmussen, Employment Relations in New Zealand 2nd edn, 2009). This essay will analyse the nature of the employment relationship in terms of OHS and employee well-being. It will try to answer how OHS and employee well-being are conducted in smaller office based enterprises and examine the main factors influencing this well-being of the employees are in such a work environment. A literature review will give background for the current themes in this field. The findings will be discussed on the basis of an interview with an employee working in a small office based occupation. A conclusion will be made and a way forward proposed. Literature review Most firms worldwide and in New Zealand employ fewer than 50 employees (Hasle & Limborg, 2006). One reason for justifying research in health and safety in smaller firms is that, even though less complex, it is more visible and exaggerated (Eakin, 2010). The focus on much of the research on health and safety in small enterprises has been on the lack of resources allocated to health and safety and the increased risk rate because of this (Legg, Olsen, Lamm, Laird, Harris, & Hasle, 2010). Managers often fail to see the necessity of a proper system and tend to not value it in terms of organisational productivity (Hasle & Limborg, 2006). As a result smaller industries often lack focus and funds and are more likely to suffer injuries or other health related incidents. (Breslin, et al., 2010). Challenges are found in many fields. Some of the most recent themes related to employee health and well-being is in the areas of stress, physical activity and nutrition, organisational development, smoking, ergonomics and back pain (Goldgruber & Ahrens, 2010). A metaanalysis on peer reviewed journals from 2004 to 2008 on the effectiveness of health promotion at the workplace showed that health prevention interventions are possible in every organisation. The study also emphasised the importance of this being the responsibility of the employer in order to succeed (Goldgruber & Ahrens, 2010). A lack of focus on OSH will impact on productivity as justified in the study by Hasle & Limborg (2006).
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Occupational health and safety is rarely considered a source of intellectual capital within an organisation (Nuez & Villanueva, 2011). Globalisation, aging workforce, migrants, and other changes in the workforce create new challenges. The manager becomes more important than ever before. There is not one occupation health system that fits all, occupational health and safety is contingent and must be managed differently in every business (Higashi & Inui, 2006). This dynamic change means that the value of the social component of the safety capital is increasingly important. Training and health interventions are what produce safety capital in terms of the human capital. Network coordination and increased communication between firms will increase the external dimension of social capital. Occupational health and safety would be more effective if managed as any other capital a firm possess, making it a source of intellectual capital (Nuez & Villanueva, 2011).

An Empirical study conducted by Arocena & Nez (2010) supports the study by Higashi & Inui (2006) and Nunez & Villanueva (2011). Several factors not only environmental factors will impact on the effectiveness of occupational health systems in the organisation. Some factors are listed as more influential: quality of industrial relations, rate of unionisation, intensity of price-based competition, access to public aid and training activities provided by the OHS public agencies, technology intensity, and the manual nature of workers tasks. These factors determine the choice of OHS arrangement in small enterprises. The organisational culture and relations are therefore important to investigate before an OSH system can be considered successful (Goldgruber & Ahrens, 2010).

Earlier research shows that a conceptual framework model of health and stress in the workplace is most viable. Intervening in cases to reduce job stress will strengthen social support and decision making control (Israel, Baker, Goldenhar, Heany, & Schurman, 1996). This gives validity to the recent research by Nuez & Villanueva (2011) on how safety capital is percieved. By providing competencies and skills throughout the organisation in terms of health and safety, it is more likely to have a postive effect. But as mentioned earlier about the lack of focus of managing this in small firms (Eakin, 2010) and the dynamic nature of organisations (Higashi & Inui, 2006), this practice has to be adjusted to different levels within the organisation and made more visible (Israel, Baker, Goldenhar, Heany, & Schurman, 1996). By drawing on knowledge and inputs from the external and internal environment and putting them into action, a system theory framework is a more hands on model to consider
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(Rasmussen, Employment Relations in New Zealand 2nd edn, 2009). By having interaction between managers, employees, unions and the government in the working environment with different technology, labour and regulations the system approach will give a framework for assessing how well OHS is working (Rasmussen & Lamm, An Introduction to Employment Relations in New Zealand, 2002). Occupational health and safety in small office based settings is complex as recent research show evidence of. Human resource practitioners must increasingly change and adopt their policies to the dynamic changing employment environment. Training and development of employees as well as job analysis in terms of OHS will be vital in order to ensure good practice.

Methodology

The sample used in this research essay was taken from a semi-structured interview done on a person in paid employment in New Zealand. The topic of the interview was occupational health & safety and employee well-being. The first part of the questions was demographics, details of the job as well as employer details. The second part was on OSH and employee well-being consisting of eight questions. The subject signed a consent form ensuring all answers are confident and approved by an ethics committee. The interview was finished within one hour. Some follow up question was asked over phone after the interview to clarify some issues regarding the answers. The subject of the interview was a male Maori/New Zealander between 20-29 years old. At the moment of the interview he had been employed at his workplace for 2-5 years. He has a Law degree from a New Zealand university. He works part time as a research/resource coordinator in an office environment. He enjoys his work but would like to get another job to better use his university degree. He has a very flexible work schedule and works 20 hours in week. Context The industry the subject works in is tertiary education. His organisation provides educational material to both governmental and private tertiary educational organisations. This industry follows market fluctuations of both the country it is located in and the industries operating there. As more need for innovation in a country or in an industry increases the need for tertiary education will increase. Thus the workload for the organisation the interviewee works
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for is expected to increase in the future (Thune, 2011). New Zealand has invested greatly in tertiary education in the recent years. By investing in tertiary education, the challenges of economic downturns are easier to deal with (Nair, Smart, & Smyth, 2007). The sector has had some good years recently and is likely to have continued success in the future (Galwey & Ogilvie, 2010). The organisation the subject works for is small with between 11-20 employees. They are funded by both the government and private sector and work on both private and public contracts. The nature of the work is to produce learning material for tertiary education. The work is office based and conducted on personal computers. They are not in any union, but their OSH policies are regulated by the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HASIE Act). Their HR department consists of one person which together with the manager ensures compliance to regulations and creates OHS policies for the organisation. Findings The organisation has a well developed system for introducing employees to the companys OHS policies. During staff induction all new employees is provided OHS booklets. They also have a formal walkthrough of the policies with the manager. They attend formal training and courses in regards to OHS on a regular basis. As this is an office job and most of the work is done on personal computers the employer has assigned, on occasions, an in-house course with an ergonomic specialist. The interviewee points out that it is a very safe work environment and that the employer goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with all OHS policies. There are very rarely any accidents in this organisation. Most of the incidents are minor, but there are some stress related to the job in periods due to short deadlines. This stress affects personal life but is not a huge issue as it hardly ever occur. They work very systematic in order to avoid stress related to their job. Job-share is often used to relieve much of the stress. In periods when workload is heavy the employer lets the employees take extra time off work to recuperate. The work culture is good and there is little distance between the manager and the staff. Because they sit a lot on an office chair they are prone to back and neck stress. This issue was raised so the employer arranged so that they got regular massage at the work. At one occasion the interview subject had a minor accident on the job. In order for the employee

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to get quickly back in the job the employer paid the medical bill and gave days off if necessary. Without any HS delegate or committee this organisation manages its OHS policies very well. Employee well-being is good and issues regarding health hazards are dealt with as soon as possible. The employer takes the safety and well-being of the employees very seriously. Good practice in health and safety training and awareness in addition to excellent information is the major factors contributing to this. Discussion The recent research on OHS in small organisations points to the magnitude and visibility of it (Eakin, 2010) and the failure of the employer to manage it properly (Hasle & Limborg, 2006). Many issues regarding health and safety in firms within this industry are related to stress and ergonomic injuries such as back pain (Goldgruber & Ahrens, 2010). The findings support this. A firm needs to take preliminary steps such as using ergonomic specialists and/or massage therapy to decrease the risk of this. This has also a good effect on the employee well-being. The nature of office based work changes rapidly with the rate of changes in technology. This increases the difficulty of creating good health and safety policies. Especially hard will it be in smaller organisations because of limited funds (Legg, Olsen, Lamm, Laird, Harris, & Hasle, 2010). By having a relevant knowledge of injuries most likely to occur, OHS booklets, regular courses and formal procedures the firm is more likely to build higher social capital and therefore higher safety capital and can easier handle changes in the environment (Nuez & Villanueva, 2011). The employer goes to great length to ensure compliance with the regulations on OHS at the workplace. The employer complies with the HASIE Act and especially when it comes to the key duties as an employer under section 13 in terms of training and supervision. The employees have also a strong influence on issues regarding workplace safety and well-being. Under the HASIE Act, section 19 they are required to take all necessary steps to ensure their own safety (Lamm, 2009). As a result the knowledge about safety issues and concerns are high. Gaining knowledge management in terms of OHS is difficult (Higashi & Inui, 2006) and will not be given enough consideration or focus by the employer as the research show. Counter to that research the findings in the interview show that some firms possess a large amount of
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knowledge when it comes to occupational health and safety. Although it is not clear where and how the employer have gained their knowledge it is relevant to argue that the type industry and how they are funded plays a role. This industry would be more likely to use a conceptual framework model because of the large variety of institutions, but a small firm in this industry is most beneficial using a systems approach to draw on relevant knowledge from organisations within the industry to develop their OHS policies. Tertiary education is a significant industry (Nair, Smart, & Smyth, 2007). The networking possibilities give them the opportunity to build intellectual capability in terms of OHS (Nuez & Villanueva, 2011). Thus a systematic approach to OHS is a reasonable solution to achieving good result in terms of improved employee well-being in this industry. The findings also show that there is some stress related to work in this industry. As the research show this is preventable in all organisations. It is up to the employer to ensure that all stress factors are minimised or removed (Goldgruber & Ahrens, 2010). The findings confirm that with positive reinforcement from the manager, stress related injuries are almost none existing. As there is no HS committee or delegate it is the sole responsibility of the employer to ensure the employees well-being in terms of OHS. Consequently the employee has a strong sense of well-being and safety. Conclusion The issue raised in this essay was how OHS and employee well being in small office based organisation is managed and what factors influence health and safety and what factors influence the well-being of the employee. This research found that OHS and employee wellbeing is difficult to manage in small organisations. The employer is responsible to ensure good procedures of OHS, but because a smaller firm often lacks funds this is not a priority. Therefore the results of the findings were surprisingly positive as it showed a small organisation with excellent OHS policies and high employee well-being. Factors such as stress and ergonomic injuries were dealt with in an exceptional matter. This on the contrary to what research in the field showed. It is the employers responsibility to have interventions and options available for the employees. With no formal committee or delegate to oversee OHS this is a sign of a healthy organisation with high safety capital. In conclusion the findings in this research justify the importance of the employer. As the recent literature pointed out, lack of knowledge is a huge issue when it comes to safe working environments in smaller firms. A lot of responsibility falls on the employer to ensure good safe standards. Also
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to gain knowledge in terms of safety a minor organisation depends on their network and culture, and other external factors to create knowledge capacity. In a dynamic changing world of work, a systematic approach to OHS is necessary. Limitations and ways forward This research has used only one source. The validity of this research is therefore limited. In order to gain a broader picture of the issues when managing OHS in smaller office based organisations several more interviews must be conducted. Also this interview was with an employee. To get a more perspectives and understanding of issues in this context the employers point of view would also be helpful. In addition much of the research in this field is from overseas sources. More research needs to be done on New Zealand firms to see how New Zealands policies reflect OHS in the workplace in contrast to other nations policies.

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References Arocena, P., & Nez, I. (2010). An empirical analysis of the effectiveness of occupational health and safety management systems in SMEs. International Small Business Journal ,28 (4), 398-419. Breslin, F. C., Kyle, N., Bigelow, P., Irwin, E., Morassaei, S., MacEachen, E., et al. (2010). Effectiveness of health and safety in small enterprises: a systematic review of quantitative evaluations of interventions. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation ,20, 163-179. Eakin, J. M. (2010). Towards a standpoint perspective: health and safety in small workplaces from the perspective of the workers. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety ,8 (2), 113-127. Galwey, D., & Ogilvie, B. (2010). An engagement framework for managing the Crown's ownership interest in the New Zealand tertiary education sector. Measuring Business Excellence ,14 (1), 67-78. Goldgruber, J., & Ahrens, D. (2010). Effectiveness of workplace heatlh promotion and primary prevention interventions: a review. Journal of Public Health,18, 75-88. Hasle, P., & Limborg, H. J. (2006). A review on the literature on preventive occupational health and safety activities in small enterprises. Industrial Health , 44, 6-12. Higashi, T., & Inui, S. (2006). Future challenges of occupational health services (OHS) in a changing working world. International Congress Series , 1294, 31-34. Hill, C. W. (2009). International Business: Competing in the global marketplace. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Israel, B. A., Baker, E. A., Goldenhar, L. M., Heany, C. A., & Schurman, S. J. (1996). Occupational stress, safety and health: conceptual framework and principles for effective prevention interventions. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology , 1 (3), 261-286. Lamm, F. (2009). Occupational Health and Safety. In E. Rasmussen, Employment Relations in New Zealand 2nd edn (pp. 168-194). Auckland: Pearson.

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Legg, S., Olsen, K., Lamm, F., Laird, I., Harris, L.-A., & Hasle, P. (2010). Understanding the programme theories underlying national strategies to improve the working environment in small businesses. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety , 5-35. Nair, B., Smart, W., & Smyth, R. (2007). How does investment in teritary education improve outcomes for New Zealanders? Social Policy Journal of New Zealand (31), 195-217. Nuez, I., & Villanueva, M. (2011). Safety capital: The management of organisational knowledge on occupational health and safety. Journal of Workplace Learning , 23 (1), 56-71. Rasmussen, E. (2009). Employment Relations in New Zealand 2nd edn. Auckland: Pearson Education. Rasmussen, E., & Lamm, F. (2002). An Introduction to Employment Relations in New Zealand. Auckland: Pearson Education. Thune, T. (2011). Success factors in higher education-industry collboration: a case study of collaboration in the engineering field. Teritary Education and Managment , 17 (1), 31-50.

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