Imanol Núñez

An empirical analysis of the effectiveness of occupational health and safety management systems in SMEs

This article analyses the effectiveness of occupational health and safety (OHS) management in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, we (1) provide an overview of the implementation of occupational risk preventive activities in a sample of SMEs; (2) characterize alternative approaches of OHS management systems; (3) assess the effectiveness of the identified OHS systems in occupational safety outcomes; and (4) analyse the factors affecting the adoption of such OHS systems. The study is based on primary data obtained by means of a survey on OHS management in 193 Spanish manufacturing SMEs. The analysis disentangles differences between the OHS activity of small-sized enterprises (SSEs) — those under 50 employees — and medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) — 50—250 employees. We find evidence that the effort and type of OHS management system does significantly affect the injury rate. More specifically, firms that complement traditional technical preventive activities with people and organization-oriented procedures are the most effective in reducing occupational accidents. Such advanced OHS systems are significantly less developed in SSEs. Our results also reveal that the choice of OHS system is determined by the quality of industrial relations, rate of unionization, intensity of price-based competition, access to public aid and training activities provided by the OHS public agencies, technology intensity, and the manual nature of workers’ tasks.

Safety Capital: The Management of Organizational Knowledge on Occupational Health and Safety.

Purpose – The concept of Safety Capital was developed by analyzing the creation and composition of the Intellectual Capital embedded in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) systems. The paper aims to address this relationship.Design/methodology/approach – By drawing a theoretical link for the relationship between OHS activities and intellectual capital, guidelines for the management of organizational knowledge on OHS systems are outlined.Findings – The paper shows that occupational health and safety should be considered among the sources of intellectual capital of the firm.Originality/value – The theoretical framework is a potential guide for substantial improvement of advanced OSH management systems, a key element to visualize incentives to invest in safety and a powerful instrument for research in intellectual capital quantification.

The effects of age on health problems that affect the capacity to work: an analysis of United Kingdom labour-force data

ABSTRACT This study estimates the effect of increases in age on 16 health problems that affect paid work for men and women in the United Kingdom. The analysis is based on a sample of the United Kingdom household population from the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey of 2007. Using multinomial logit regressions, the results reveal considerable diversity in the relationships between age and the reported prevalence of health problems that affect work. In particular, problems with heart, blood and circulation, arms and hands, legs and feet were strongly related to age, while difficulties in seeing and hearing, skin conditions and allergies appeared not to be more prevalent among older workers than younger employees. Regarding gender differences, it was found that, in general, womens health-related ability to participate in work was less affected by age, but that they suffered particular problems with arms and hands, skin conditions, allergies and depression. Finally, the study analyses the non-linear effects of unit increases in age. Such analysis may usefully identify the ages (or inflection points) at which ageing intensifies its effects on occupational health. These findings point to the importance of intervention at the appropriate time, when preventive measures may avoid the exacerbation of the health problem.

The Effect of Occupational Safety Legislation in Preventing Accidents at Work: Traditional versus Advanced Manufacturing Industries

We analyze the effect of occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation in reducing workplace accidents. It is argued that different impacts should be expected in advanced and traditional manufacturing sectors. We test this hypothesis with data on Spanish manufacturing throughout the period 1988–2004. To that effect, we estimate the relationship between the number of serious injuries and the potential risk factors, by means of diverse specifications of the negative binomial regression model for panel data. Our results indicate that, while the adoption of the new OSH regulation did contribute to the reduction in the number of injuries in advanced manufacturing sectors, the accident rates in traditional manufacturing did not show any statistically significant change following the reform.

The effect of higher education on the gender wage gap

In this paper, we investigate the effect of an academic degree on the gender wage gap, examining the cases of Greece and the UK. Using Labour Force Survey (LFS) micro-data, we first compare the returns to higher education for each gender separately, we then decompose the gender wage gap between graduates and individuals with secondary education only, and finally we analyse the effect of higher education on the (un)explained part of the wage gap. For that purpose, an extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique is used. We find that the unexplained part, which is often related to discrimination is lower for graduates in both countries.

Better safe than sorry? The role of stratification and quality of higher education in the labour market outcomes of graduates across Europe

This article assesses the impact of higher education and academic field of study on young people’s labour market outcomes across Europe. A sequential logit approach is adopted to analyse transitions into (a) labour market participation, (b) employment and (c) permanent contracts. Three waves (2003–2005) of the European Union Labour Force Survey are pooled capturing data on over a million individuals across Europe. The results show that higher education has indeed a positive impact on securing employment, but a more limited effect on assuring permanent contracts. Furthermore, strong differences across countries and academic fields are found, which are explained in the light of the stratification level and quality of the higher education systems across European countries.

Healthy working days: The (positive) effect of work effort on occupational health from a human capital approach

The neoclassic economic rationale has taken for granted that the effect of effort on health is negative. However, several studies in the field of occupational health and medicine claim that working is clearly better for health than non-working or being unemployed, as some psychological and physical condition may improve with work effort. This paper analyzes the effect of work effort on occupational health. The proposed human capital approach builds upon the classic economic perspective, that assumes a negative effect of effort on health, and extends it by allowing positive effects, as suggested by occupational researchers. Using a sample from 2010 of 20,000 European workers we find that, under adequate working conditions, the level of effort (measured in working hours) at which health starts to deteriorate is very high (120 h per week). However, if working conditions are not adequate, even a moderate effort (35 h per week) can harm workers health.

The effect of human capital on occupational health and safety investment: An empirical analysis of Spanish firms

Spanish Ministerio de Educacion, Ciencia y Cultura, Grant/Award Number: ECO2017-86054-C3-2-R

Moral Hazard on the Reporting of Health Problems: A Public–Private Comparison

This study investigated the effect of moral hazard on the reporting of health problems in the public sector. Moral hazard was demonstrated by a comparison between public and private employees of self-reporting hard-to-diagnose health problems. Data for the analysis were taken from a sample of over 120,000 workers from the U.K. 2010 Labour Force Survey. Results revealed that, against the posited hypotheses, the opportunistic behavior was equal between public employees and permanent workers from the private sector. However, differences were found in reporting behavior between public employees and personnel with contractual positions where the risk of unemployment was higher.

Rethinking Under-Skilling in Europe ☆

Abstract This paper investigates the prevalence and distribution of under-skilling across Europe. First, in order to understand why under-skilling occurs, three main theoretical approaches are discussed: (a) Inefficient signaling, (b) Skill shortages, and (c) On-the-job training substitution. Second, in order to measure the real dimension of the problem, we use the Cedefop European Skills and Jobs Survey (ESJS) 1 to assess whether workers’ skills were lower than required at the point they started their job. Our results are rather mixed. First, we find under-skilling being related to some academic fields such as Health & Medicine, and Engineering. Second, we find that under-skilling is more prevalent among, not surprisingly, young workers but, rather unexpectedly, among permanent workers working in high-skilled occupations.