Health Risk Outlooks by Social Partners - HEROS

A multi-level analysis of health and safety policy interventions by social partners to identify effective ways to ensure better protection of employees at work.

Project outline

The current Covid-19 pandemic highlights the importance of greater national and European-level policy coordination to protect and promote healthy, safe, and well-adapted work environments. The European Framework Directive on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) at Work (Directive 89/391 EEC) guarantees minimum health and safety requirements for employees throughout Europe while member states are allowed to maintain or establish more stringent measures (European Commission, 2017). The pandemic however has revealed gaps in the provision of health and safety at work in almost all member states. Analysis of deaths involving the Covid-19 virus by occupation showed the highest death toll among the lowest-paid workers in non-standard employment. Generally, the growth of more flexible work arrangements, subcontracting, casual and home‐based work, and the decline in union membership have undermined both coverage and the effectiveness of health and safety provisions (Johnstone et al., 2005). The OSH Directive obliges employers to take appropriate preventive measures to make work safer and enable employee involvement and consultation in health and safety issues. Generally, better health and safety protection outcomes are achieved when employee participation is included (Gunningham, 2008). We use a multi-level analysis to investigate health and safety policy interventions by social partner organisations at both the national and European sectoral level to identify effective ways to provide better protection. We especially focus on how social partners in Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and the UK coordinate policy interventions at national and European sectoral level to manage health and safety risks in the hospital and social services sectors.

The motivation for the study

• The current Covid-19 pandemic highlights problems with the effectiveness of policy interventions to address health and safety risks and to effectively protect workers. Effective interventions ensure better quality - ‘fit for purpose’ - and wider coverage of health and safety protection. The European Framework Directive on OSH at Work guarantees minimum health and safety requirements for employees throughout Europe while member states are allowed to maintain or establish more stringent measures. The pandemic has revealed gaps in the provision of health and safety at work in almost all member states.
• We use a comparative case study design to systematically analyse policy intervention practices used by social partners at the national sectoral and European sectoral level to secure health and safety at work. We investigate policy interventions in six countries - Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and the UK to account for institutional differences (European Commission, 2009; Fulton, 2018). National differences in employee representation around health and safety reflect differences in national structures of employee representation and overall developments in health and safety legislation (James and Kyprianou, 2000; Walters et al., 2005).
• To control for differences in sectoral characteristics we compare intervention practices in two sectors. In our analysis, we focus on the hospital and social services sectors which are both characterised by similar occupational health and safety risks. Whilst most similar regarding health and safety challenges, they differ markedly regarding ownership and industrial relations systems in Europe. Both sectors are characterized by a predominantly female and ageing workforce (Crawford et al., 2016). Furthermore, both sectors have faced reductions in public expenditure and the privatisation of health care provisions promoting new approaches to health management affecting work and employment practices (Bach, 2001; Greer et al., 2013).
• This actor-centered multi-level analysis (Kaufman, 2004) investigates health and safety policy interventions based on interviews with social partner organisations at both the national and European sectoral level. We investigate how social partners in Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and the UK coordinate policy interventions at the national and European sectoral level to manage health and safety risks for healthcare workers in hospitals and different types of carers (skilled and unskilled) that provide personal care services for the elderly in care homes, day centers, and home care (mobile care).
• The interviews for this project will be conducted between March and August 2022 and the project will finish in August 2023.
• The research team will present ongoing research at Conferences in 2023.

Project Team

If you have any questions about this study, please speak to the researcher.

Lead organisation: Durham University, UK

This project received funding from the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. Call for proposals: Improving expertise in the field of industrial relations. Project VS/2021/0234.

References

Bach, S. (2001) Rolling back the state? Health sector reform and the restructuring of Employment Relations in Europe. Competition & Change, 5(4), 335–354.

Crawford, J.; Davis, A.; Cowie, H. and Dixon, K. (2016) Women and the ageing workforce: Implications for Occupational Safety and Health – A research review. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Available at: https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/women-and-ageing-workforce-implications-occupational-safety-and-health-research-review/view [accessed 26 June 2020].

European Commission (2009) Industrial Relations in Europe 2008. Brussels: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 19–72.

European Commission (2017) European Pillar of Social Rights. Booklet. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/publications/european-pillar-social-rights-booklet_en [accessed 3 July 2020].

Fulton, L. (2018) Health and safety representation in Europe. Labour Research Department and ETUI (online publication). Produced with the assistance of the Workers' Interest Group of the Advisory Committee for Safety and Health at Work (of the EU Commission). Available at: http://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations [accessed 26 May 2020].

Greer, I.; Schulten, T. and Böhlke, N. (2013) How does market making affect industrial relations? Evidence from eight German hospitals. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 51(2), 215–239.

Gunningham, N. (2008) Occupational health and safety, worker participation and the mining industry in a changing world of work. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 29(3), 336–361.

James, P. and Kyprianou, A. (2000) Safety representatives and committees in the NHS: a healthy situation?. Industrial Relations Journal, 31(1), 50–61.

Johnstone, R.; Quinlan, M. and Walters, D. (2005) Statutory occupational health and safety workplace arrangements for the modern labour market. The Journal of Industrial Relations, 47(1), 93–116.

Kaufman, B. E. (ed.) (2004) Theoretical perspectives on work and the employment relationship. Cornell University Press.

Walters, D.; Nichols, T.; Connor, J.; Tasiran, A. and Cam, S. (2005) The role and effectiveness of safety representatives in influencing workplace health and safety. HSE Research Report 363. Sudbury: HSE Books.