Title: The trade union effect on health, safety and well-being at work in the 21st century: Findings from a secondary analysis of ESENER
1The trade union effect on health, safety and
well-being at work in the 21st century Findings
from a secondary analysis of ESENER
2What this presentation is about
- Evidence of worker representation on OHS from the
European Survey of Enterprises on New and
Emerging Risks (ESENER) - How it compares with what we already know and
would expect to find - Challenges for sustaining the trade union effect
3ESENER in brief
- EU-wide (27 and Croatia, Norway, Switzerland and
Turkey) establishment OHS survey on new and
emergent risks (emphasis on psycho-social hazards
of modern work organisation) - Managers and workers representatives in
workplaces of all sizes except micro-enterprises - Nearly 36,000 telephone interviews with managers
and worker representatives (over 7,000)
4What we did
- Examined the ESENER data for features of support
and effects of worker involvement in the
management of OSH - Used multivariate analyses to define a typology
of establishments according to their
characteristics determining worker involvement - Compared with existing research findings to
explain the context of features found to have
greatest influence on enterprises involvement of
workers and their representatives in OHS
management
5What ESENER report says about worker
representation on OHS generally
- Strong association between presence of
arrangements for representation and measures of
OHS management (Expected) - High levels of perceptions of effectiveness of
representation on operation of these measures
(Expected) - High level of involvement in OHS management
measures such as risk assessment (Unexpected) - Strong support for representatives re time off
to undertake functions and from training
(Unexpected) - Some concerns about sufficient time/access to
workers - Need for more training re psychosocial
risks/bullying/ discrimination or ergonomics
6 ESENER and worker representation and
consultation on OHS (cont)
- Our findings essentially describe what we might
expect to - find where pre-conditions for representation
exist. That is - Worker representation is more common in larger
organisations and public sector. - More likely where management prioritises OHS, and
the views of workers - Formal management of health and safety risks more
likely (and perceived as more effective) in
workplaces with worker representation high
management commitment to OHS.
7ESENER and worker representation and consultation
on OHS (cont.)
- Psychosocial risk management more likely in these
workplaces. - Also more likely to be effective where employees
are involved. Latter is more likely where there
is representation - Confirms that management of both traditional and
psychosocial health and safety risks, and its
effectiveness, more likely in workplaces in which
workers representatives are supported by trades
unions (eg training), and sufficient resources
(eg time).
8Workplace representation a reminder of a
success story of more than two decades
- Hundreds of thousands of health and safety
representatives - Increased demand for participative approaches to
OHS management at regulatory and workplace levels - Greater engagement of inspectorate and OHS
specialists - Strong evidence of improved OHS performance where
trade union supported safety representatives are
involved
9Why - what makes things work?
- Studies confirmed the support of
- Regulatory provisions
- Management commitment to better health and safety
performance through participative arrangements - Workplace worker organisation
- Support from trade unions outside workplaces
- Well-trained and well- informed representatives.
10But..nowadays ..
- Increased unemployment
- Weaker trades unions
- Cut backs in government expenditure
- Attacks on wider employment rights
- Pay and pension cuts
- Work intensification/reorganisation and
restructuring - Issues of migration and informal/undocumented
work - Increasingly extreme features of a
well-established neo-liberal political and
economic agenda in Europe - All make it more difficult to focus on OHS
representation
11For representation on OHS, challenges include .
- Reduced union presence
- Reduced regulatory inspection (in most countries
and changes in others) - Reduced professional capacity (eg occupational
hygiene, safety engineering) - New and emergent risks
- Psychosocial
- Restructuring hard-to-reach
- All militate against the sustainability of the
trade union effect
12What is to be done? Some questions for for
union policy and support
- How to provide continued support for worker
health and safety representatives e.g. better
time off and training? - How can worker representation effectively address
new and emerging risks? - Development of wider understandings of
occupational risks in the new economy - How to encourage their role as change agents
outside of traditional employment relationship? - What is the role of representation on health and
safety in trade union organising strategies? - What can be learned from good practice what is
transferable to other sectors and countries? -