Sam Salem

Workplace bullying: a systematic review of risk factors and outcomes

Background: Studies investigating workplace bullying started in the early 1990s in Scandinavian countries. Research has been conducted regarding bullying definitions, behaviours, prevalence rates, risk factors and outcomes such as sickness absences, psychological effects, chronic and cardiovascular diseases and lower job satisfaction. To date, no systematic review has been conducted regarding this subject. Objectives: To investigate the association between (1) workplace factors and bullying and (2) workplace bullying and various outcomes. Methods: A critical appraisal was conducted twice after a thorough review of published studies. A definition and a model of workplace bullying are provided. Results: Results showed associations between organizational problems and workplace bullying and between a victims personality and workplace bullying. In some cases, strong associations between workplace bullying and a victims well-being and performance were found. Conclusions: Results cannot be generalized since there are several confounders and covariates that needed to be considered. There is also a lack of research investigating the characteristics of bullies.

The work compatibility improvement framework: an integrated perspective of the human-at-work system

The industrial revolution demonstrated the limitations of a pure mechanistic approach towards work design. Human work is now seen as a complex entity that involves different scientific branches and blurs the line between mental and physical activities. Job design has been a traditional concern of applied psychology, which has provided insight into the interaction between the individual and the work environment. The goal of this paper is to introduce the human-at-work system as a holistic approach to organizational design. It postulates that the well-being of workers and work outcomes are issues that need to be addressed jointly, moving beyond traditional concepts of job satisfaction and work stress. The work compatibility model (WCM) is introduced as an engineering approach that seeks to integrate previous constructs of job and organizational design. The WCM seeks a balance between energy expenditure and replenishment. The implementation of the WCM in industrial settings is described within the context of the Work Compatibility Improvement Framework. A sample review of six models (motivation-hygiene theory; job characteristics theory; person-environment fit; demand-control model; and balance theory) provides the foundation for the interaction between the individual and the work environment. A review of three workload assessment methods (position analysis questionnaire, job task analysis and NASA task load index) gives an example of the foundation for the taxonomy of work environment domains. Previous models have sought to identify a balance state for the human-at-work system. They differentiated between the objective and subjective effects of the environment and the worker. An imbalance between the person and the environment has been proven to increase health risks. The WCM works with a taxonomy of 12 work domains classified in terms of the direct (acting) or indirect (experienced) effect on the worker. In terms of measurement, two quantitative methods are proposed to measure the state of the system. The first method introduced by Abdallah et al. (2004) identifies operating zones. The second method introduced by Salem et al. (2006) identifies the distribution of the work elements on the x/y coordinate plane. While previous efforts have identified some relevant elements of the systems, they failed to provide a holistic, quantitative approach combining organizational and human factors into a common framework. It is postulated that improving the well-being of workers will simultaneously improve organizational outcomes. The WCM moves beyond previous models by providing a hierarchical structure of work domains and a combination of methods to diagnose any organizational setting. The WCM is an attempt to achieve organizational excellence in human resource management, moving beyond job design to an integrated improvement strategy. A joint approach to organizational and job design will not only result in decreased prevalence of health risks, but in enhanced organizational effectiveness as well. The implementation of the WCM, that is, the Work Compatibility Improvement Framework, provides the basis for integrating different elements of the work environment into a single reliable construct. An improvement framework is essential to ensure that the measures of the WCM result in a system that is adaptive and self-regulated.

Workplace stress factors and ‘burnout’ among information technology professionals: a systematic review

Background: Burnout is a widely acknowledged stress outcome. As the prevalence of burnout has been observed in several other professions, it is very plausible that it could be prevalent in the Information Technology (IT) field. Objective: To show a relationship between working environment of an IT professional and burnout. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review of studies dealing with burnout among IT professionals. Methods: Prior publications addressing burnout and IT professionals were retrieved by an online search of multiple databases. Abstracts were examined to determine which articles met specific criteria for evaluation. Two reviewers critically appraised three articles and determined three key exposure variables; role ambiguity, role conflict and job tasks. Results: There is a relationship between the three variables and burnout among IT professionals. However, the three articles collectively were evaluated as marginal (0.67 out of 2.0). Conclusions: Managers of IT employees must be aware of these exposure variables and take action to protect the individuals. These efforts will enhance individual well-being and save the company money over the long-term.

Effectiveness of behaviour based safety interventions to reduce accidents and injuries in workplaces: critical appraisal and meta-analysis

Background: Behaviour-based safety (BBS) is one of the promising methods implemented in industry to reduce the incidence of accidents and injuries. Researchers have reported diverse BBS applications in various industries. The diversity of applications and results reveals a need for systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the overall effectiveness of BBS to improve workers’ safety and health. Objective: To quantitatively assess the effectiveness of behaviour-based safety (BBS) interventions in reducing accidents and injury occurrence in occupational settings. Methods: A critical appraisal was conducted to assess the methodological quality of study. A meta-analysis was also performed to identify the direction and size of the effect. Results: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria with a poor to marginal methodological quality. Eight studies achieved a statistically significant reduction in accidents/injuries after conducting a BBS intervention. The overall metaSAR (0.60, 95% CI 0.72–0.97) displayed a statistical significance in reducing accidents/injuries. Conclusions: A statistically significant reduction in injuries/accidents was observed after conducting a BBS intervention in a workplace. However, this statistical significance should be interpreted with caution, due to the poor to marginal methodological quality of studies included in the meta-analysis. Reliable results require interventions with high methodological quality based on the specific needs of the workplace.

Questionnaires vs observational and direct measurements: a systematic review

Background: Physical work requirements can be estimated by several different methods, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. To reduce the occurrence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders, a quantitative assessment of work-related, physical risk factors is needed. Objective: To examine the validity of self-administered questionnaires (SAQ) in assessing work-related physical demands when compared to an experts evaluation using observational and/or direct measurement. Methods: An online search of relevant databases was conducted and identified articles were critically appraised using a quality scoring checklist. Evidence from the studies was compared and summarized. Results: A total of 12 studies evaluating work-related force, duration and frequency were identified. A critical appraisal checklist was used to assess methodological quality. The majority of the studies lacked the necessary elements of measurement validity and reliability as demonstrated by their low quality scores. Overall, there was a low-to-moderate agreement between SAQ and observational/direct measurement. Conclusion: The validity of SAQ to assess work-related physical variables is questionable. When the rules of psychophysics are combined with a calibration method the validity is greatly improved. In addition, several personal factors need to be considered during data collection, in particular the presence of previous musculoskeletal disorders.

Estimating the uninsured costs of work-related accidents, part I: a systematic review

Background: Work-related accidents and their associated costs have been a serious concern for management, especially as statistics show that there is no clear relationship between the frequency of injuries and the costs of accidents. Methods: A systematic appraisal of available literature was conducted to identify the best approaches to the classification and estimation of insured and uninsured components of work-related accident costs. The appraisal seeks to identify meaningful components and predictors of the cost of accidents. Results: The selected publications introduced different methods to aggregate the cost of accidents but failed to provide an explanation of the relationship between the nature of accidents and their associated cost. Only three studies explored both insured and uninsured components and only four utilized incidence-based models. Conclusions: There is a need to move beyond linear ratios as predictors of the uninsured cost of accidents. An incidence-based method would best represent the nature of accidents.

Risk factors associated with adverse health and safety outcomes in the US Hispanic workforce

Background: Historically, jobs that are high in physical labour such as construction, farming, fishing, mining and manufacturing tend to have the highest accident and fatality rates. Many working in these sectors, particularly of Hispanic origin, have been experiencing higher numbers of accidents than workers from other backgrounds. Objective: To investigate adverse safety and health outcomes among Hispanic workers in the US associated with risk factors by means of a systematic review of analytical studies. Methods: A keyword search was used within several academic databases to search for applicable articles. A critical appraisal was carried out to evaluate the selected studies according to epidemiological principles. Results: The critical appraisal of six relevant studies revealed that lack of education and training, language barriers, culture barriers and job type are risk factors associated with adverse safety and health outcomes in Hispanic workers in the US. However, results may be limited due to a need for specific information regarding subject loss and issues regarding generalization to eligible populations. Conclusions: There is still a need for studies investigating the relationship between specific risk factors and their influence on immigrant workers. Research should take into account other variables such as immigration status and develop proper interventions to assess the effectiveness of prevention methods such as proper bilingual safety training.

Effectiveness of controlled workplace interventions in reducing lower back disorders

Background: Researchers have conducted interventions, based on several different risk factors, designed to minimize the prevalence or incidence of lower back disorders in different occupational settings. However, results have been inconsistent for the observed effectiveness of the intervention methods. Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of controlled workplace interventions in preventing the (re)occurrence of lower back disorders (LBDs) in a manufacturing setting. Methods: An electronic and manual literature search was conducted. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed on five categories and a meta-analysis was performed to identify the direction and size of the effect. Because the studies were homogeneous (Q = 0.63), the meta-OR was calculated using the fixed-effect model. Results: The literature survey identified four studies that met the inclusion criteria. These studies possessed a marginal to moderate methodological quality (mean quality score 0.78 of 2.0, SD = 0.22). The meta-OR revealed a statistically insignificant reduction in work-related LBD prevalence (meta-OR = 0.77; 90% CI 0.55–1.07). Conclusions: Due to the statistical insignificance of the meta-OR and the relatively low methodological quality of studies, no definite conclusions can be drawn. More rigorous research with high quality standards is required.