1 Wave generation: a model approach to socially sustainable safety and health May 2022
3 Contents Introduction 05 1 People 13 Consultation, participation and representation 15 Leadership and commitment 17 Roles and responsibilities 19 Training, education and development 21 Worker satisfaction and engagement 24 2 Work and Environment 27 Competence 29 Corrective actions 31 Emergency preparedness 33 Hazard identification and risk management 35 Incident management 37 Legal requirements and compliance 39 Planning and design 41 Support resource and facilities 43 3 System and Integration 47 Auditing and certification 49 Learning and improvement 51 Monitoring and performance evaluation 53 OSH management system 55 Scope and context 57
4 4 Organisation 61 Governance 63 Human resources 65 Information technology 67 Procurement 70 5 External 73 Community engagement 75 Human rights 78 Supply chain 82 6 Overarching 87 Communication 89 Culture 91 Equality, diversity and inclusion 93 Glossary 96 References 99
5 Introduction The OSH practitioner is already an authority on decent, meaningful, and sustainable work The goals of social sustainability and occupational safety and health (OSH) are broadly the same. Both are focused ultimately on making sure that people are protected, healthy, safe, and well – and on keeping them that way long into the future. And while social sustainability might extend into areas where practitioners have limited knowledge, there is no doubt that the ambition of OSH for the protection of people, prevention of harm, and a safe and healthy world of work is a fundamental part of the sustainability agenda. So, OSH professionals should not feel intimidated when it comes to contributing to reporting instruments, supporting with the preparation of non-financial disclosures, or estimating the social impacts of business activities. These activities and OSH professionals’ daily work contribute valuably to socially sustainable organisations. When they identify or control a hazard, develop or deliver a piece of training, or consult with workers on OSH matters, practitioners are not only helping prevent harm, they are also creating conditions in which workers feel valued and can flourish. However, there is currently no shared and straightforward method for reporting socially sustainable OSH. Consequently, even if it is commonly understood that OSH is hugely valuable and of strategic concern to organisations, many practitioners have struggled to know how to communicate this. There are plenty of metrics and indicators in sustainability reporting instruments intended to express how seriously organisations are taking the task of looking after their people. Likewise, many practitioners are already experienced at showing how seriously they take the same task in their own reporting processes as part of OSH management systems. However, these measures may only tell part of the OSH story. Crude measures like injury and illness figures risk overlooking a key part of the narrative: impact. A broad reach Safe and healthy work has an impact far beyond safe and healthy workers. The growing interest in social sustainability provides a huge opportunity for the OSH profession to demonstrate precisely how much value safe and healthy workers can bring to the organisations they work in and to the communities they belong to. It brings a chance to go beyond simply reporting that workers are safe and healthy. It is a chance to capture what workers feel and how they act to add value to their employers and the wider world precisely because they are safe and healthy (see Figure 1). If they can show these broader benefits, OSH professionals are likely to see that their efforts begin to influence discussions and decision making at the top of their organisations.
6 Agreement on the measures that best reflect impact – indicators that reliably predict the most meaningful returns of OSH practices and investment – may take time to fully emerge and to measure in practice. Even then, what works in one setting may not work in another. But there is no better time for OSH professionals to take a broader look at what their work achieves. In an age when more and more organisations are considering the environmental impact of their business practices, it is an opportune moment to show that the social impact of OSH is positive and far-reaching. Given the importance of good OSH practice in an organisation, it is important that this is driven not just by practitioners but also by operational managers. It is important that these managers are also aware of the role they play in enabling safe and healthy work. Operational managers are ideally placed to cascade the values of good OSH through organisational layers. Likewise, board-level leadership is required to achieve the full potential of good occupational safety and health. Figure 1: The contribution that occupational safety and health functions make to the wellbeing outcomes is broad, and works in unison with other business inputs to create a whole worker experience Input OSH Activities Support, Direction, Leadership HR Activities I feel as though my employer takes steps to put my best interests at heart Output Safety and Health Competence and Productivity Satisfaction and Engagement I feel safe, competent, and secure in the work that I do Outcome Safe Culture and Climate Effort and Quality Loyalty and Commitment I am happy in my role and feel an affinity with my employer that makes me want to keep working for them Impact Flourishing and Thriving Flourishing and Thriving Flourishing and Thriving I am thriving at work, I contribute willingly however I can, and see work as somewhere to express myself Business OSH Professional Line Manager HR Professional Worker Wellbeing Welldoing Outcomes and Impacts
7 The whole picture OSH professionals have historically been driven by measures of the physical, intended outputs of management systems, such as the numbers of completed risk assessments, lower incident figures and personal injury claims. However, if we could show the ultimate impact of those outcomes it would help to create a clear feedback loop and would underscore the value of OSH investment. There is research evidence of these impacts; studies have found positive links between meaningful work and job performance (Van Windergen, 2018); job satisfaction and performance (Wright et al., 2007); psychological wellbeing and job turnover intention (Wright et al., 2007); working environment and job satisfaction (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015); and the presence of OSH practices and job performance (Perera, 2019). The happyproductive worker thesis argues that happier workers perform better than those who are less happy (Taris & Schreurs, 2009). Some of these terms, such as wellbeing, meaningful work and job satisfaction, are large and composite. They also extend beyond the traditional parameters of OSH to incorporate other organisational factors. A comprehensive picture of wellbeing includes not just a worker’s safety and health, but how they feel towards their employer, how they feel about their role, and how engaged they are with their work. Building such a picture may require extra effort, but doing so will generate valuable information for stakeholders – including OSH professionals themselves. Gathering data capable of establishing connections between inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impacts is hugely useful for decision making. Wellbeing Outcomes: Capturing the Whole Worker Experience Competent Engaged Resilient Satisfied Autonomous Meaningful Safe Connected Comfortable Valued Healthy Secure Supported Committed Stable Worker Figure 2: A comprehensive picture of worker wellbeing covers many outcomes
8 So OSH professionals must try to understand how the aspects of an OSH management system interact with other factors. Something as simple as the provision of gender-appropriate PPE might, have a particularly positive impact on worker satisfaction and engagement as well as preventing illness or injury. This input-output-outcome-impact approach helps to facilitate valuable learning opportunities. In turn, it creates a chance to refine and improve the entire system through a cycle of continuous improvement. Reporting highlights OSH value Another challenge OSH professionals need to overcome is to articulate the impact of OSH in a way that is meaningful to a wide group of stakeholders – whether it is internally to colleagues and management, or externally • AIHA & CSHS: Best Practice Guide for Leading Health Metrics in Occupational Health and Safety Programs (2020) • Campbell Institute & NSC: Beyond Safety: Leading Indicators for Health and Wellbeing (2019) • Cascade: Health & Safety KPI Examples (2021) • Committee on Workers' Capital: Guidelines for the Evaluation of Workers’ Human Rights and Labour Standards (2017) • CSHS: Best Practice Guide for Occupational Health and Safety in Sustainability Reports (2016) • Danish Institute for Human Rights: Human Rights Compliance Assessment Tool: Workplace Health and Safety (2016) • GRI 401: Employment • GRI 402: Labour/Management Relations • GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety 2018 • GRI 405: Diversity and Inclusion • GRI 406: Non-Discrimination • GRI 407: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining • GRI 408: Child Labour • GRI 409: Forced or Compulsory Labour • Human Rights Campaign: Corporate Equality Index (2021) • ICGN: Global Governance Principles (2021) • ISO 26000: Social Responsibility • ISO 27500: The Human-Centred Organisation (2016) • ISO 45001: Occupational health and safety management systems (2018) • ISO 45003: Psychological health and safety at work (2021) • OHCHR: Human Rights Indicators • SASB: Industry-specific disclosures (selected) • UN Guiding Principles Reporting Framework (2015) • UN Sustainable Development Goals • UNGC: Nine Business Practices for Improving Safety and Health Through Supply Chains and Building a Culture of Prevention and Protection (2021) • Vision Zero: Proactive Leading Indicators (2020) • World Bank Environmental and Social Standards Framework (2017) Figure 3: Examples of OSH and OSH-relevant instruments
9 to auditors, customers, suppliers or investors. Information in reporting instruments (that is, guidance on OSH indicators or advice on disclosure statements) may offer limited support in tackling this challenge. However, there remains the task of articulating the impact of OSH more generally. This is where the growing range of sustainability reporting instruments is particularly useful. While it might at first appear complicated, the wide coverage of OSH-relevant aspects in these instruments serves to show how fundamental healthy and safe workers are to socially sustainable business. Aspects of OSH feature in instruments as varied as sustainability reporting guidelines, business and human rights principles, ESG (environment, social and governance) frameworks, social responsibility standards and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, strengthening the argument that sustainable organisations are built upon core OSH practices and principles. Practitioners on the right track We undertook a review of the reporting landscape with the aim of understanding where and how OSH features in it. We also wanted to understand whether the parameters of OSH connect neatly with the parameters of social sustainability in these instruments. By supporting OSH practices and principles, are practitioners supporting the development of socially sustainable businesses? The review included an examination of a significant number of reporting instruments that contained OSH and OSH-relevant aspects (see Figure 3), before building a model of socially sustainable OSH management. It reached two clear conclusions: 1. The core aspects of good OSH are recognised across the reporting landscape. This is important because it confirms that, fundamentally, the practices and principles of the OSH professional feed into sustainable business practice. 2. There are additional areas, some outside the traditional parameters of OSH, where the profession might also help build socially sustainable organisations. To do so, perceived functional borders, (between OSH and human resources (HR), for example, may need to be challenged. There is little within the growing reporting landscape to suggest that a radical new approach to OSH is required in the specific context of social sustainability. The proliferation of OSH-relevant instruments helps to construct a model approach that could accelerate the evolution of the profession. Its scope provides a roadmap to take OSH from a primarily preventive pursuit to one that is socially enabling. Our counterparts in HR are undertaking a similar journey to better understand how human capital metrics are positioned within business models and strategies. Professionals in people-focused disciplines would be well served by engaging with the concept of social sustainability (and the idea that OSH and HR management can enable a huge range of positive worker impacts over the long term) before then exploring the best ways to demonstrate this to stakeholders.
10 A familiar model The model approach in this paper takes as a starting point the structure of an OSH management system outlined in ISO 45001:2018, an international standard which gives organisations a framework to manage OSH risks and opportunities, prevent harm, improve employee safety, reduce workplace risks and create better, safer working conditions. ISO 45001:2018 is a risk-based standard and uses the familiar ‘plan-do-check-act’ approach, together with the high-level structure (Annex SL) which is common to all new ISO management system standards. Helpfully, many of the aspects of good OSH (and therefore socially sustainable) practice that our review identified in the reporting landscape are also contained within this standard. This makes it a useful foundation on which to develop an understanding of socially sustainable OSH. Beyond this starting point, the model builds on the high-level structure of ISO 45001:2018 by also incorporating additional areas where OSH might also contribute to an organisation’s social impact – for example, through cross-functional collaboration, supply chain relationships, community engagement and so on. This model (see Figure 4) contains five elements that reflect the maturity of OSH from a core, preventive function to a more outward-looking and future-oriented function that feeds into the development of socially sustainable organisations. These five elements are: 1. People 2. Work and environment 3. System and integration 4. Organisation 5. External The model also contains a sixth element, which reflects the fact that OSH management is materially affected by a number of broader contextual factors. These factors are shown as an overarching lens which always affects the main model itself.
11 Figure 4: A model of socially sustainable OSH management *Equality, diversity and inclusion
People Consultation, participation and representation Leadership and commitment Roles and responsibilities Training, education and development Worker satisfaction and engagement 1
14 There is an argument that “organisations don’t do things; people do things” (Buckingham, 2018). The statement reminds us that safety, health, and wellbeing (OSH) should be human-centred. Achieving sustainable and decent work relies fundamentally on people continuing to feel willing, able, and ready to work. The success of an organisation’s approach to both OSH and the broader pursuit of long-term sustainable value depends on leadership and commitment. All individuals within an organisation should understand their roles and responsibilities so that accountability for the safety and health of all people is clear. It is also important to acknowledge that workforces consist of people, not simply workers. It falls upon the organisation to ensure that its people are fit, healthy and well; sufficiently equipped to undertake their roles, competent, and engaged and satisfied at work. Only such a broad approach takes account of the full work experience and the full expression of individual wellbeing. Finally, given also that people working in organisations possess valuable reserves of knowledge, skills and experience (which are work- and nonwork-specific), it is vital that this human capital is not only protected, but developed and utilised meaningfully. Gathering and disclosing clear information about aspects such as these shows the extent to which an organisation is truly focused on people. Potential returns • Investment in people creates greater feelings of job satisfaction and job security among workers as they feel more valued and appreciated. • Focus on people creates supportive working environments and encourages a more productive workforce. • Workers experience greater sense of inclusion and engagement, leading to a greater willingness to participate. • Participation generates ownership and a greater worker contribution to business outcomes. • Increased stake in business outcomes creates commitment and loyalty. • Increased loyalty results in lower turnover of workers and greater retention of organisational knowledge and skills. • Training and development improve workers’ competence and also give them opportunities to learn, develop and advance. • Workers who are well-skilled and clear about their roles and responsibilities are likely to be more confident. • Workers feel valued and have a clear path to personal or professional growth. • Business reputation increases when workers feel happy and motivated enough to advocate for the organisation to the wider world. People
15 Consultation, participation and representation Through consultation, participation and representation, organisations actively engage with and seek to learn from their workforces and their representatives. This might take the form of involvement in process development, mechanisms for workers to make OSH-related suggestions, or opportunities for them to sit on safety and health committees. Encouraging participation and consultation with workers is key to both the development of OSH management systems and to fostering a positive health and safety culture. Deferring to the expertise of workers (Dekker, 2014) is both a sound approach to OSH and also an exercise in empowering them. While consultation and participation activities are important in their own right, organisations should also seek to ensure that the range of individuals involved in them reflects the diversity of the workforce. Any mechanism designed to include workers in consultation to inform decision-making needs to include the experiences and insight of all of them. For example, an organisation that employs shift workers should ensure that the unique experiences of this cohort are included in consultation exercises and decisions that might affect their wellbeing. The same applies to any groups defined by worker type, age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and any changes to ways of working, such as remote working and homeworking. The failure to consult workers authentically – or at all – can lead to disengagement, erosion of trust, poor motivation, and lower intention to participate in future. The impact of this disengagement on safety, health and wellbeing can be even more damaging over the long-term. Organisations may benefit from the consultation and participation of workers in two important ways. Lower incident rates may come from more worker-driven improvements to the working environment and workers may feel more involved in, and empowered by, the decision-making processes.
16 Food for thought There are some key misconceptions about worker consultation. Some organisations might confuse it with communication more generally, which is a different process. Consultation should be a two-way and genuinely participatory process. The integrity of the process of engaging with workers is important. Being consulted with but not listened to may be more detrimental than not being consulted at all. Organisations that fail to proactively consult with their workers, or to respond to workers when they speak up, may risk discouraging workers from participating. Having a sense of voice is an essential building block when it comes to the maintenance of worker relations. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • ISO 45001:2018; ISO 45003:2021 – A demonstration of how all workers are provided with: mechanisms, time, training and resources to enable consultation and participation; timely access to clear, understandable and relevant information; opportunities to participate in decision-making and process development ( including on OSH policy, assigning roles, fulfilling legal requirements and establishing objectives) (ISO, 2018, 2021) • Vision Zero Proactive Leading Indicators – A quantitative measurement of the degree to which workers are recognised for good OSH performance; a quantitative measurement of the suggestions made by workers for improving OSH, and the degree to which these suggestions are followedup adequately. (ISSA, 2020) • GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety – Information on processes for worker participation and consultation in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the OSH management system; details about the process of providing access to and communicating relevant OSH information; a description of any joint management–worker health and safety committees and details on responsibilities, meeting frequency, decision-making authority. (GRI, 2018) • DIHR: Human Rights Compliance Assessment Tool – Clear stance on whether the organisation provides employees with the opportunity to fully participate in OSH-related management and monitoring processes at the workplace, without fear of retaliation. (DIHR, 2016) • GRI 405: Diversity and Inclusion – The percentage of individuals within the organisation’s governance bodies ( including on OSH committees) in different diversity categories including: gender; age group (under 30 years old, 30-50 years old, over 50 years old); and any other diversity indicators (such as minority or vulnerable groups). (GRI, 2016)
17 Leadership and commitment Showing leadership and commitment in OSH requires that the management and board of an organisation demonstrably prioritise the safety, health, and wellbeing of workers. This involves both showing formal, documented commitment (through policy, objectives, investment, and so on) and more visible day-to-day commitment by way of walk-throughs, regular communication, role modelling, and so on. In combination, these activities contribute to the development of a prevention culture in which workers are likely to follow the example set by leaders. Policy sets the tone for OSH leadership and commitment because it helps to embed worker safety, health, and wellbeing in organisational activities. To show genuine commitment, policies must be meaningful and aspirational. Having the most senior manager or board member responsible for OSH authorise and issue the policy statement sends a strong message of commitment. OSH commitments to worker safety, health, and wellbeing include: • seeking to prevent work-related injuries and ill-health through systematic hazard identification • business management or leaders taking ownership of the OSH management system in the same way they do other business systems • recruiting new leaders with proven OSH records ensuring that workers and their representatives are routinely consulted and encouraged to participate in all aspects of OSH • listening to workers and utilising their skills, knowledge and experience • investing in OSH to create a positive, risk-driven and evidence-led culture amongst the workforce. Beyond structural commitments to OSH, the visible expression of leadership and commitment – when leaders are seen to prioritise worker safety, health and wellbeing – sends a clear message to the workforce that their organisation values them as highly as profit. Demonstrating leadership in this way might come in the form of Senior management showing leadership through regular OSH communications with workers, or by conducting regular site walkthroughs. The contribution of OSH leadership and commitment to socially sustainable organisations is significant. This is evidenced by the number of reporting instruments that ask organisations to demonstrate how committed their senior management and board are to OSH. The benefits for organisations are also significant: not only are workers better protected where authentic prevention cultures exist; they are more likely to show commitment to the organisation in turn.
18 Food for thought As OSH policy sets the overall intent of the organisation, there are challenges in achieving a balance between being aspirational and realistic. A commitment simply to comply with OSH legislation – important as this is – is not enough to suggest genuine aspiration. Organisations can aspire to go beyond compliance in determining good practice and improving OSH performance, while ensuring their commitments are realistic and include only goals the organisation genuinely intends to meet. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently being requested? • ISO 45001; ISO 45003 – A demonstration of how the top management of an organisation demonstrate their leadership and commitment to physical and psychological OSH through: responsibility and accountability; establishment of policy and objectives; integration of OSH into business processes; making available the resources required to establish, implement, maintain and improve the OSH management system and so on. (ISO, 2018, 2021) • Vision Zero Proactive Leading Indicators – A quantitative measurement of the degree to which leaders visibly demonstrate their commitment to OSH through processes and behaviour (e.g. through walkthroughs); a measure of the extent to which leadership recruitment considers motivation for or proven record in OSH. (ISSA, 2020) • AIHA & CSHS Best Practice Guide for Leading Health Metrics – A quantitative measurement of the number of leadership reviews that have been confirmed and scheduled during the reporting period.(AIHA; CSHS, 2020)
19 Roles and responsibilities Establishing the roles, responsibilities and authorities of individuals in an organisation’s OSH management system – and in any management system – is important to ensure that workers at each level understand who owns each element and their role in it. Setting out these role and responsibilities instils accountability for the safety, health, and wellbeing of workers firmly in the system. Formally laying out expectations of a role helps secure the long-term effectiveness of the system, not least because it provides for the role’s present and future occupants. In the case of movement between roles, the parameters of accountability are not lost. There are a number of critical considerations to ensure that roles and responsibilities are not only set out in principle but put into practice. Documentation is important; it helps to define: • the scope and purpose of a role • responsibility and delegated authority of a role • resources needed to undertake a role • competence (the knowledge, skills and experience needed to undertake a role) • communication, monitoring and reporting needed to fulfil a role • handover/backup of the role if role holder is absent However, clear and documented roles will not be sufficient alone. As with other OSH activities, the effectiveness of formal documentation relies on, two-way communication that helps ensure all individuals fully understand where their responsibilities begin and end. Finally, it is important to acknowledge that workers themselves should take ownership of their own health, safety and wellbeing, and work to protect anyone else who might be affected by their work. Exercising this responsibility involves following safe work procedures, using protective equipment where necessary, seeking treatment for workplace injury, and so on. On the other, particularly when workers are engaged, they may begin to consider how their responsibilities interact with their rights. Understanding one’s role and responsibilities can be a matter of empowerment as much as it is a matter of accountability. Ultimately, where workers are knowledgeable and competent, they are better equipped to both meet the expectations required of them and also to identify problems.
20 Food for thought Even when documented, roles and responsibilities may not be well scoped-out or fully understood. Some organisations may not sufficiently identify and describe the key aspects of roles, meaning that the knowledge, skills, and experience needed for the role are not clear. Consequently, workers might be given roles without the resources or training necessary to carry them out. A lack of defined roles and responsibilities can lead to workers feeling unsure about their work, and lacking confidence that their health and their safety are being protected. In turn, workers may lose confidence in senior management due to a perceived lack of planning. External stakeholders may request evidence demonstrating that roles are well defined, well resourced, and have been allocated to workers with the right knowledge, skills and experience. And while evidence in the form of documentation may partially help to fulfil this request, demonstrating the competence and awareness of workers themselves is a vital dimension of roles and responsibilities. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • ISO 45001; ISO 45003 – Evidence that responsibilities and authorities for relevant roles within the OSH management system are assigned and communicated at all levels within the organisation and maintained as documented information. (ISO, 2018, 2021) • The Campbell Institute: Implementation Guide to Leading Indicators – A quantitative measure detailing the percentage of the workforce that leads safety meetings, indicating the level of organisational maturity around OSH. (The Campbell Institute, 2019)
21 Training, education and development Opportunities for training, education and development are important to OSH and to sustainable human capital management more generally. While building and maintaining competency is essential to ensuring work is carried out safely, learning opportunities can extend beyond the acquisition and refreshment of basic skills and abilities. It may cater more broadly to the lifelong learning of workers, providing transferable knowledge that could support professional growth and career progression inside and beyond the organisation. Investment in the training and development of workers is as important as the investments made in maintenance of physical equipment. Investing in longevity of people, is key to ensuring safe, healthy and sustainable workplaces. Without training and development opportunities, workers may lose the motivation and aspiration necessary to engage with work activities. This in turn may stifle innovation and inspiration among the workforce, as well as negatively impacting morale and safe behaviour. By contrast, offering good-quality learning opportunities may not only improve workers’ skills directly, but may increase their work engagement and loyalty to the organisation, particularly where they see room for future development. The importance of learning opportunities can be seen in the demand for training provision disclosures in sustainability reporting instruments. An organisation’s commitment to upskilling and developing its workforce is seen as making a positive contribution not only to socially responsible organisations, but to sustainable communities more generally.
22 Food for thought The true value and impact of training, education and development may not always be captured by organisations. With OSH training in particular, if the motivation for training is compliance or meeting legal requirements, the cheapest, most readily available provision may be chosen. In such cases, the training provider and materials may not be adequate to meet the learning objectives. Consequently, decisions about training and development provision should be preceded by determining the needs of the recipients. Specify what the individual or group should be able to do following the completion of the training; what it should lead to next; whether additional training will then be necessary to reach the next level. It should be tailored to meet specific circumstances, limitations, accessibility requirements and so on. Finally, it is important to evaluate the training to try and identify whether it has had the desired outcome.1 Providing workers with training, education, and development opportunities in which they can see benefits for both themselves and for the organisation will help to foster a sense of shared development. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • GRI 403: Occupational Health and Safety – Information on numerous aspects of training development, delivery and evaluation, including: how training needs are assessed; how the training is designed and delivered (the content or topics addressed, the competency of trainers, which workers receive the training, the frequency of the training, and whether the training is provided in a language easily understood by workers); whether the training is provided free of charge and during paid working hours – if not, whether it is mandatory for workers to attend, and whether they are compensated for this; how the effectiveness of the training is evaluated. (GRI, 2018) • Vision Zero Proactive Leading Indicators – A measurement of the extent to which OSH is included in organisational training provision ( the percentage of leaders and workers for whom OSH is covered in their induction and/or refresher training). (ISSA, 2020) • The Campbell Institute: Implementation Guide to Leading Indicators – Quantitative measurement of training provision and participation, including: percentage of new workers that have completed orientation training; number of certified trainers in safety; ratio of training hours to work hours; number of safety culture and leadership hours for leaders.. (The Campbell Institute, 2019) 1 For further information, see IOSH’s policy position on OSH training.
23 • GRI 404: Training and Education – Information on the availability of wider training and education opportunities, including: the average hours of training that the organisation’s employees have undertaken during the reporting period (disaggregated by gender and employee category); type and scope of programmes implemented and assistance provided to upgrade employee skills; any transition assistance programmes provided to facilitate continued employability. (GRI, 2016a) • SDG4: Quality Education – Measurement of the participation rate of in formal and non-formal education and training, disaggregated by gender.
24 Worker satisfaction and engagement The degree to which a worker is satisfied and engaged with their work is affected by how much they feel the organisation values them. Job satisfaction reflects whether workers are generally happy in their work while employee engagement illustrates whether workers are motivated, absorbed, dedicated, and show vigour. Both are outcomes of decent, meaningful work. Workers benefit from feeling that the work they are doing has purpose and that they are contributing something worthwhile. When satisfied and engaged, they are more likely to show commitment to the organisation – and to the OSH principles and practices that it promotes. The organisation has a role to play in explaining, contextualising, and designing work in a way that makes workers feel that what they do has a purpose and adds value. Alongside this, workers must feel that they are considered in the day-to-day running of the organisation. Consulting with workers, letting them take ownership of duties, allowing them to make decisions, and permitting them to act with autonomy in their roles, are some ways to improve satisfaction and engagement. Of course, this in turn may foster trust, collaboration and empowerment. The relationships between satisfaction, engagement, and broader wellbeing are multi-directional, so it is important for organisations to understand the root causes of outcomes – positive or negative. Unsafe behaviour by employees might reflect a lack of engagement, and vice versa. Low job satisfaction might result from workers not feeling safe and valued, and vice versa. Organisations should consider exploring how else to influence satisfaction and engagement positively through OSH. This might include measures as straightforward as ensuring that workers are given long enough breaks, that they are provided with outside spaces to disconnect from work, and offered good quality training that allows them to develop. Worker satisfaction and engagement are of interest to a range of stakeholders in an organisation. For the OSH professional, they can simultaneously be the cause and effect of good safety, health and wellbeing outcomes. At organisational level, the benefits of better engagement and satisfaction are numerous: • Workers increased sense of safety due to measures or improvements they can see in the working environment. • Greater willingness to participate among workers due to a sense of trust and appreciation. • Greater willingness to come forward with suggestions for improvement. • Greater productivity due to workers feeling happier, motivated and valued. • Decrease in job turnover intention due to workers experiencing a sense of belonging and worth.
25 Food for thought A challenge for organisations is that not all workers will find their work challenging, satisfying and engaging. Some might find their roles mundane, their tasks monotonous, and struggle to find motivation or feel a sense of worth whilst at work. An organisation can try to manage the wellbeing of these workers by creating a broader working environment and culture in which they feel connected to the business, through general wellbeing interventions, greater opportunities for development and improved communication channels. This may promote a sense of worth in workers, increase their motivation and participation levels and, importantly, keep them safer and healthier in the long run. Another challenge is the lack of a straightforward way to understand the relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance, which could help to build the business case for great focus in these aspects. However, this relationship is one that should be explored. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • The Campbell Institute: Implementation Guide to Leading Indicators – Various quantitative measurements of the level of engagement and participation in OSH-related activities, including: percentage of attendance at OSH committee meetings or safety events; percentage of job turnover; number and quality of workplace observations submitted. (The Campbell Institute, 2019) • Cascade: Health & Safety KPI Examples – Survey feedback from employees on satisfaction with physical surroundings, desk, office, noise levels, building, toilets, greenery, emotional environment. (Cascade, 2021) • ISO 27500: The Human-Centred Organisation – Evidence of staff being given time to engage in socially responsible activities within work time (as well as in their own time). (ISO, 2016)
Work and environment Competence Corrective actions Emergency preparedness Hazard identification and risk management Incident management Legal requirements and compliance Planning and design Support resource and facilities 2
28 A cornerstone of socially sustainable organisations is the protection of workers and the provision of working conditions that are safe and healthy and promote decent and meaningful work for all people, all of the time. This begins with the identification of hazards and the management of work-related risks. For stakeholders interested in the long-term sustainability of an organisation, demonstrating how potentially harmful work impacts are managed – through assessment, planning and design, control strategies, objective setting, emergency preparedness and so on – shows them how committed the function is to looking after its people. Beyond risk management, the working environment is a dynamic space that influences the way in which workers think, feel and behave. With the emergence of increased virtual working and technological advances in the world of work, this may be especially true. There is a clear opportunity for OSH professionals not only to provide a safe physical and psychosocial environment and appropriate equipment, but also to help create through this process an environment in which workers can find purpose, autonomy, and job satisfaction. Potential returns • Engaged and satisfied workers are more likely to behave safely. • Engaged and satisfied workers are more likely to contribute to decisionmaking processes relevant to OSH matters. • Competent workers are better able to undertake work with confidence. • Workers who are granted genuine opportunities to contribute to OSH issues (through objective setting or incident management, for example) feel a greater sense of empowered. • Workers feeling safer and happier because of improvements or controls in the work environment they can see first-hand. • Increased productivity is fostered by good workplace facilities, safe working conditions, and comprehensive safety infrastructure. • Transparency and fairness of OSH processes leads to workers feeling included, valued, and well-informed. • A more stable workforce with lower turnover allows organisations to consumer and manage resources more efficiently. Work and environment
29 Competence Competence is an umbrella term for the skills, experience and knowledge that an individual possesses. In the OSH context, it extends beyond the question of whether an individual can carry out work tasks, to whether they are able to manage their safety, health and wellbeing more generally when doing so.1 Socially sustainable organisations are built on a foundation of competent workers. These organisations realise that their success depends on how capable their people are. It is thus important that organisations engage meaningfully with their workers to determine whether they have the requisite resources to work safely and healthily. Beyond this, they should seek to identify the most suitable ways to increase competence. Formal education does not necessarily equip workers with the appropriate skills to thrive in the workplace. So training and development activities should be tailored to meet workers’ requirements. These requirements can be identified through processes such as job planning and design, worker consultation and participation, and performance monitoring which determine the competencies workers have and need. Competent workers have a clear idea of their role, what to do and how to do it. However, the benefit of a competent workforce is not only that work is carried out effectively and safely. More than that, competent and capable workers also possess valuable and transferrable human capital, which might be used elsewhere in the organisation or beyond. The disadvantages of incompetent workers extends beyond unproductive or unsafe work. Workers who lack the competence to carry out their work may also suffer from self-doubt and lost confidence, which may lead to reduced engagement, a decreased sense of purpose, and generally lower wellbeing. 1 For more information, see IOSH’s policy position on Education.
30 Food for thought When organisations experience financial strain or have to restructure, short-term budget cuts might reduce training and development opportunities for workers. While the rationale for such an approach might be that skill shortages can be made up in time, evidence suggests that this rarely happens. The world of work is changing, and successful organisations should consider worker competence to be a form of renewable human capital, rather than something dispensable, on the basis that these workers provide the greatest value in the longer term. In the context of technological innovation and its impact on work, the competence workers require is likely to evolve quickly, meaning that organisations will have to help them keep pace. Where organisations fail to view their people as assets to be valued and developed, higher job turnover may follow, resulting in higher costs to replace those who leave. Costs saved on recruitment may ultimately help to fund an organisation’s training and development budget. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • ISO 45001 – Evidence that an organisation has determined the necessary competence of workers; that workers possess the relevant skills knowledge and experience to undertake their roles (including the ability to identify hazards); that steps are taken to acquire, maintain, and evaluate competence. (ISO, 2018) • ISO 45003 – Evidence that workers are competent enough to identify psychosocial hazards , manage psychosocial risks, and understand the interaction between different hazards; that steps are taken to acquire, maintain, and evaluate competence of psychosocial risk; that interest parties are able to implement protection measures and/or report issues where necessary; that any activities in this area take into account the needs, experience, language skills, literacy and diversity of individual workers. (ISO, 2021)
31 Corrective actions In essence, corrective actions refer to the steps that an organisation takes following OSH issues or incidents or nonconformity. Timely, comprehensive, and effective responses enhance the preventive quality of the system, and they also they give confidence to stakeholders that an organisation is committed to preventing recurrence, learning from lessons and improving safety, health and wellbeing. Similarly, failing to take corrective action has a greater consequence than just leaving the issue/nonconformity in question unaddressed. The expectation for organisations to complete corrective actions features in many reporting instruments, emphasising the responsibility to make changes following audits, risk assessments and incidents. A robust system is required to deal with, and close out, problems. Workers trusting their employers is a prerequisite for developing human capital within organisations. So issues must be resolved in a timely and effective manner, but workers must also be included in this process along with other interested parties. This consultation provides an opportunity to gather concerns and recommendations from workers with sharp-end knowledge, who will consequently value their inclusion in decision making. In addition to better-informed corrective actions, greater worker involvement in managing incidents and issues may also lead to: • workers feeling safer because of corrective actions they have contributed to directly • greater willingness to participate in future because of enhanced trust and appreciation • greater worker input into productivity due to workers feeling happier, motivated, and valued. Another requirement of the corrective action process is for organisations to be transparent and to find a solution that works for all parties, promoting ongoing worker involvement. The way an organisation undertakes corrective actions encapsulates its broader approach to protecting its workforce, which is why information on this subject is often requested in reporting instruments. Not only does it indicate how far organisations are committed to improving the safety, health and wellbeing of workers, the process also illuminates other aspects of the OSH system, such as consultation and participation, communication and incident investigation.
32 Food for thought Organisational finance can be a significant challenge when it comes to corrective actions. Where people and profit are in competition, organisations may try to incur as few costs as possible in order to maximise profits. It falls on OSH professionals to argue that closing out corrective actions to the necessary standard– even where this requires investment – equates to sustainable investment in human capital. Ultimately, they will need to make the case that, if workers can clearly see the commitment to improvement in OSH, they are more likely to be feel more safer, valued, happier, and productive at work. What sort of OSH-related information or practices are currently requested? • ISO 45001 – Evidence that an organisation has a timely, responsive, and risk-focused process for reporting, investigating and taking action, to determine and manage incidents and nonconformities. (ISO, 2018) • The Campbell Institute: Implementation Guide to Leading Indicators – A quantitative measure detailing the average time taken to complete corrective actions; number and percentage of completed corrective actions by due date; number of open issues without a corrective action assigned.. (The Campbell Institute, 2019) • Cascade: Health & Safety KPI Examples – A quantitative measure detailing the average time taken to resolve risks and Issues. (Cascade, 2021) • AIHA & CSHS Best Practice Guide for Leading Health Metrics – Quantitative measurement showing the percentage of completed health corrective actions carried out by due date; number of corrective actions/lessons learned from drills, table-top sessions and incidents. (AIHA; CSHS, 2020)
33 Emergency preparedness Emergency preparedness relates to the way an organisation plans for potential disasters and emergency situations. These disasters and emergencies could vary in terms of scale, time and severity but are events which could overwhelm the resources of the organisation. Emergency preparedness and response encompass exercises such as risk assessment, prevention planning, mitigation planning, developing response measures and determining roles and responsibilities, with the ultimate aim of protecting people and ensuring business continuity. Each organisation will have an emergency preparedness profile which reflects the nature of its undertakings, geographical location, neighbours and other factors. In some cases, the extent to which workers are involved could be limited. In others the workforce may form part of the on-site team tasked with response, control and containment. A collaborative approach to emergency preparedness, which includes the participation of all key stakeholders, is encouraged (York & MacAlister, 2015). In such cases, responsibility would not sit with an OSH professional alone, although their contribution would be integral to the process. The preparedness and response documentation may also be used within an organisation’s business continuity arrangements, just as business impact assessments should consider OSH and wellbeing. Planning thoroughly for future events, regardless of their likelihood, is a positive expression of an organisation’s OSH culture. For the OSH professional, this sort of planning is not only an exercise in good risk management and strategic forethought; it also demonstrates a level of care for the safety, health, and wellbeing of workers that may be repaid with their trust. Organisations that are willing to listen to workers’ ideas or concerns about emergency preparedness show those individuals that their opinions are valued. Training and practice in responding to emergencies is likely to create both competence and confidence. Investment in emergency management training will prepare workers but will also demonstrate the value an organisation places on protecting its people. Against the backdrop of both the COVID-19 pandemic and growing concerns about the effects of climate change, external stakeholders are increasingly likely to request OSH-related information from organisations about their emergency plans.
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