IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp9770.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Health and Safety Risks in Britain's Workplaces: Where are They and Who Controls Them?

Author

Listed:
  • Bryson, Alex

    (University College London)

Abstract

This is the first paper to identify the correlates of workplace managers' perceptions of the health and safety risks faced by workers and the degree to which workers have control over those risks. The risks workers face and the control they have over those risks are weakly negatively correlated. Managerial risk ratings are positively associated with both injury and illness rates, but not with absence rates. The control rating is also positively associated with injury and illness rates, but it is negatively correlated with absence rates. Workers are more likely to be exposed to health and safety risks when their workplace is performing poorly and where it has been adversely affected by the recession. Union density is positively associated with risks but is not associated with worker control over risks. Having on-site worker representatives dealing with health and safety is linked to lower risks than direct consultation between management and employees over health and safety. However, there is no evidence that particular types of health and safety arrangement are related to worker control over health and safety risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Bryson, Alex, 2016. "Health and Safety Risks in Britain's Workplaces: Where are They and Who Controls Them?," IZA Discussion Papers 9770, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp9770.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grazier, S. & Sloane, P.J., 2008. "Accident risk, gender, family status and occupational choice in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 938-957, October.
    2. Alex Bryson & John Forth & Lucy Stokes, 2015. "Does Worker Wellbeing Affect Workplace Performance?," National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) Discussion Papers 447, National Institute of Economic and Social Research.
    3. Konstantinos, Pouliakas & Ioannis, Theodossiou, 2010. "An Inquiry Into the Theory, Causes and Consequences of Monitoring Indicators of Health and Safety At Work," MPRA Paper 20336, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Alex Bryson & Richard Freeman, 2013. "Employee Perceptions of Working Conditions and the Desire for Worker Representation in Britain and the US," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 1-29, March.
    5. Andrew M. Robinson & Clive Smallman, 2006. "The contemporary British workplace: a safer and healthier place?," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 20(1), pages 87-107, March.
    6. Paul Fenn & Simon Ashby, 2004. "Workplace Risk, Establishment Size and Union Density," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 42(3), pages 461-480, September.
    7. Andrew M Robinson & Clive Smallman, 2013. "Workplace injury and voice: a comparison of management and union perceptions," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 27(4), pages 674-693, August.
    8. Alex Bryson & Erling Barth & Harald Dale-Olsen, 2013. "The Effects of Organizational Change on Worker Well-Being and the Moderating Role of Trade Unions," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(4), pages 989-1011, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Uwe Jirjahn & Jens Mohrenweiser & Stephen C Smith, 2022. "Works councils and workplace health promotion in Germany," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1059-1094, August.
    2. Getinet Astatike Haile, 2021. "Men, women and unions," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 201-217, May.
    3. Minjie Cai & Sian Moore & Chris Ball & Matt Flynn & Ken Mulkearn, 2022. "The role of union health and safety representatives during the COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of the UK food processing, distribution, and retail sectors," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 390-407, July.
    4. Wels, Jacques, 2020. "The role of labour unions in explaining workers’ mental and physical health in Great Britain. A longitudinal approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2010. "An Inquiry Into The Theory, Causes And Consequences Of Monitoring Indicators Of Health And Safety At Work," SIRE Discussion Papers 2010-120, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    2. Alejandro Donado, 2015. "Why Do Unionized Workers Have More Nonfatal Occupational Injuries?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(1), pages 153-183, January.
    3. Monica Galizzi & Tommaso Tempesti, 2015. "Workers’ Risk Tolerance and Occupational Injuries," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(10), pages 1858-1875, October.
    4. Mohamed Ali Ben Halima & Camille Regaert, 2015. "Quel est l’impact de la survenue d’un accident du travail sur la santé et le parcours professionnel ?," Working Papers DT68, IRDES institut for research and information in health economics, revised Jul 2015.
    5. Athina Economou & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2015. "Join the Union and Be Safe: The Effects of Unionization on Occupational Safety and Health in the European Union," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 29(2), pages 127-140, June.
    6. Rostiana, 2019. "Multi-dimensional Individual Work Performance: Predictors and Mediators," GATR Journals gjbssr529, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.
    7. Hans-Jürgen Engelbrecht, 2015. "A General Model of the Innovation - Subjective Well-Being Nexus," Economic Complexity and Evolution, in: Andreas Pyka & John Foster (ed.), The Evolution of Economic and Innovation Systems, edition 127, pages 69-90, Springer.
    8. Alex Bryson & Lucy Stokes & David Wilkinson, 2023. "Is pupil attainment higher in well-managed schools?," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 129-144, January.
    9. Nikolaos Georgantzis & Efi Vasileiou, 2014. "Are Dangerous Jobs Paid Better? European Evidence," Research in Labor Economics, in: New Analyses of Worker Well-Being, volume 38, pages 163-192, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Romel Ramón González-Díaz & Ángel Acevedo-Duque & Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda & Dante Castillo, 2021. "Contributions of Subjective Well-Being and Good Living to the Contemporary Development of the Notion of Sustainable Human Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    11. Artz, Benjamin & Blanchflower, David G. & Bryson, Alex, 2022. "Unions increase job satisfaction in the United States," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 173-188.
    12. David Walters & Michael Quinlan & Richard Johnstone & Emma Wadsworth, 2016. "Cooperation or resistance? Representing workers' health and safety in a hazardous industry," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 379-395, July.
    13. Konuk, Hızır & Ataman, Göksel & Kambur, Emine, 2023. "The effect of digitalized workplace on employees' psychological well-being: Digital Taylorism approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Cronin, Hugh & McGuinness, Seamus, 2014. "Examining the Relationship between Employee Resistance to Changes in Job Conditions and Wider Organisational Change: Evidence from Ireland," IZA Discussion Papers 8441, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Binnur Balkan & Semih Tumen, 2016. "Firm-Size Wage Gaps along the Formal-Informal Divide: Theory and Evidence," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 235-266, April.
    16. Gabriele Mazzolini, 2014. "The economic consequences of accidents at work," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def015, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    17. McKay, Andy & Newell, Andrew T. & Rienzo, Cinzia, 2018. "Job Satisfaction among Young Workers in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Comparative Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 11380, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Simon Eisele & Martin R. Schneider, 2020. "What Do Unions Do to Work Design? Computer Use, Union Presence, and Tayloristic Jobs in Britain," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(4), pages 604-626, October.
    19. Andrea Salvatori & Seetha Menon & Wouter Zwysen, 2018. "The effect of computer use on job quality: Evidence from Europe," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 200, OECD Publishing.
    20. Trong Tuan Luu, 2019. "CSR and Customer Value Co-creation Behavior: The Moderation Mechanisms of Servant Leadership and Relationship Marketing Orientation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 379-398, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unions; working conditions; workplace safety;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9770. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.