The Transition from Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Interventions to OSH Outcomes: An Empirical Analysis of Mechanisms and Contextual Factors within Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Guido J. L. Micheli, Enrico Cagno and Antonio Calabrese
Additional contact information
Guido J. L. Micheli: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Enrico Cagno: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milan, Italy
Antonio Calabrese: Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milan, Italy

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-22

Abstract: Many Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) interventions have proven to be effective only under controlled conditions; during the implementation in practice, the interventions may not work as expected, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are affected by different contextual factors than larger enterprises and these factors can influence the outcome of the OSH programs. Three different phases of an OSH intervention (design, implementation, and control) have been considered. The aim of this research is to understand what are the mechanisms by which an OSH intervention works or does not work as expected, together with barriers and drivers, and the related contextual factors. The research was designed following multiple case study research, which enables an in depth understanding of the intervention process and the identification of the most relevant factors for OSH. Data were collected through interviews with owner-managers or OSH managers of SMEs. Finally, the data were analysed through an analytical research framework that enabled the identification of the main mechanisms and contextual factors for the interventions that had an expected outcome and for those which had an unexpected outcome.

Keywords: OSH; interventions; mechanisms; contextual factors; barriers; drivers; SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1621/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1621/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1621-:d:161088

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().