Toronto • May 28-29, 2010 • Student Day and Workshops: May 27
Paper: Thinking outside the risk: Identifying barriers and promoting insights in workplace injury prevention
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Session : 7. Knowledge exchange in OHS
Day/Time: Friday at 15:15
Room: Ballroom, 2nd Floor
Objectives:
The research study focused on identifying and overcoming barriers to the implementation of workplace safety measures. The study sought to clarify the barriers, human and organizational, impeding the success of workplace risk management programs, and to explore and develop factors critical to overcoming these barriers.
Methods:
The study explored the perceived human and organizational barriers impeding the effective implementation of workplace safety best practices through interviews and focus groups conducted with directors, managers, supervisors and employees at both participating organizations (District of Saanich and The City of Victoria). Data was analyzed using content analysis. Coding of the data was based on categories derived from cognitive appraisal, work stress, and problem-solving literature.
Results:
Several generalizable barriers were identified including communication gaps, lack of role clarity, and competing priorities, as well as several more specific to the cultures of the participating organizations. Implications for the role of supervisor as an integrative problem solving catalyst, and factors related to organizational culture are discussed.
Conclusions:
Prevention of workplace injury continues to pose costs and concerns for both workers and the organizations that employ them. It is not that we lack the knowledge for effectively addressing workplace risk, it is that we continue to struggle with the implementation of this knowledge. Kari-Pekka Martimo (2006) of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Research explains that "either the prevention techniques do not work, or employees don’t change their habits." The supervisor has the unique capacity to facilitate integrated solutions that incorporate the values of both administration and front-line employees and creatively generate practices that can reconcile and meet both sets of priorities.
References:
Martimo, K-P (2006). Reducing sickness absenteeism at the workplace—what to do and how? Scand J Work Environ Health, 32(4), p. 253-255
