In this article, we develop and meta-analytically test the relationship between job demands and resources and burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes in the workplace. In a meta-analysis of 203 independent samples (N = 186,440), we found support for a health impairment process and for a motivational process as mechanisms through which job demands and resources relate to safety outcomes. In particular, we found that job demands such as risks and hazards and complexity impair employees' health and positively relate to burnout. Likewise, we found support for job resources such as knowledge, autonomy, and a supportive environment motivating employees and positively relating to engagement. Job demands were found to hinder an employee with a negative relationship to engagement, whereas job resources were found to negatively relate to burnout. Finally, we found that burnout was negatively related to working safely but that engagement motivated employees and was positively related to working safely. Across industries, risks and hazards was the most consistent job demand and a supportive environment was the most consistent job resource in terms of explaining variance in burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes. The type of job demand that explained the most variance differed by industry, whereas a supportive environment remained consistent in explaining the most variance in all industries.

Safety at work: a meta-analytic investigation of the link between job demands, job resources, burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes

Political pronouncements and policy statements include much conjecture concerning the health and behavioral effects of economic decline. We both summarize empirical research concerned with those effects and suggest questions for future research priorities. We separate the studies into groups defined by questions asked, mechanisms invoked, and outcomes studied. We conclude that although much research shows that undesirable job and financial experiences increase the risk of psychological and behavioral disorder, many other suspected associations remain poorly studied or unsupported. The intuition that mortality increases when the economy declines, for example, appears wrong. We note that the research informs public health programming by identifying risk factors, such as job loss, made more frequent by economic decline. The promise that the research would identify health costs and benefits of economic policy choices, however, remains unfulfilled and will likely remain so without stronger theory and greater m...

https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031210-101146

The Health Effects of Economic Decline

The objective of this work is to determine and study, analyze and elaborate, classify and categorize the main risk analysis and risk-assessment methods and techniques by reviewing the scientific literature. The paper consists of two parts: a) the investigation, presentation and elaboration of the main risk-assessment methodologies and b) the statistical analysis, classification, and comparative study of the corresponding scientific papers published by six representative scientific journals of Elsevier B.V. covering the decade 2000–2009. The scientific literature reviewing showed that the risk analysis and assessment techniques are classified into three main categories: (a) the qualitative, (b) the quantitative, and (c) the hybrid techniques (qualitative–quantitative, semi-quantitative). The qualitative techniques are based both on analytical estimation processes, and on the safety managers–engineers ability. According to quantitative techniques, the risk can be considered as a quantity, which can be estimated and expressed by a mathematical relation, under the help of real accidents’ data recorded in a work site. The hybrid techniques, present a great complexity due to their ad hoc character that prevents a wide spreading. The statistical analysis shows that the quantitative methods present the highest relative frequency (65.63%) while the qualitative a lower one (27.68%). Furthermore the hybrid methods remain constantly at a very low level (6.70%) during the entire processing period.

http://risktr.com/dokumanlar/risk%20analysis%20and%20assessment%20methodologies%20in%20th%20work%20sites.pdf

Risk analysis and assessment methodologies in the work sites: On a review, classification and comparative study of the scientific literature of the period 2000–2009

America’s unprecedented levels of inequality have far-reaching negative consequences for society as a whole. Although differential access to resources contributes to inequality, the current review illuminates how ongoing participation in different social class contexts also gives rise to culture-specific selves and patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. We integrate a growing body of interdisciplinary research to reveal how social class culture cycles operate over the course of the lifespan and through critical gateway contexts, including homes, schools, and workplaces. We first document how each of these contexts socializes social class cultural differences. Then, we demonstrate how these gateway institutions, which could provide access to upward social mobility, are structured according to middle-class ways of being a self and thus can fuel and perpetuate inequality. We conclude with a discussion of intervention opportunities that can reduce inequality by taking into account the contextual responsiveness of the self.

https://web.stanford.edu/~hazelm/publications/2014%20StephensMarkusPhillips%20SocialClassCultureCycles.pdf

Social Class Culture Cycles: How Three Gateway Contexts Shape Selves and Fuel Inequality

To estimate the impact of (particularly long-term) unemployment on the overall and mental health of the Spanish working-age population and to check whether the effects of unemployment on health have increased or been tempered as a consequence of the economic crisis.
 We apply a matching technique to cross-sectional microdata from the Spanish Health Survey for the years 2006 and 2011–2012 to estimate the average treatment effect of unemployment on self-assessed health (SAH) in the last year, mental problems in the last year and on the mental health risk in the short term. We also use a differences-in-differences estimation method between the two periods to check if the impact of unemployment on health depends on the economic context. Unemployment has a significant negative impact on both SAH and mental health. This impact is particularly high for the long-term unemployed. With respect to the impact on mental health, negative effects significantly worsen with the economic crisis. For the full model, the changes in effects of long-term unemployment on mental problems and mental health risk are, respectively, 0.35 (CI 0.19–0.50) and 0.20 (CI 0.07–0.34). Anxiety and stress about the future associated with unemployment could have a large impact on individuals’ health. It may be necessary to prevent health deterioration in vulnerable groups such as the unemployed, and also to monitor specific health risks that arise in recessions, such as psychological problems.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10198-014-0563-y.pdf

The influence of the economic crisis on the association between unemployment and health: an empirical analysis for Spain

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 implementat...

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

This paper examines the impact of an academic degree and field of study on short and longterm unemployment across Europe (EU15). Labour Force Survey (LFS) data on over half a million individuals are utilised for that purpose. The harmonized LFS classification of level of education and field of study overcomes past problems of comparability across Europe. The study analyses (1) the effect of an academic degree at a European level, (2) the specific effect of 14 academic subjects and (3) country specific effects. The results indicate that an academic degree is more effective on reducing the likelihood of short-term than long-term unemployment. This general pattern even though it is observed for most of the academic subjects its levels show significant variation across disciplines and countries.

Higher education and unemployment in Europe: an analysis of the academic subject and national effects

The impact of the business cycle on occupational injuries in the UK

https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/estudis/2007/hdl_2072_4079/UABDT07-3.pdf

The impact of prevention measures and organisational factors on occupational injuries

The financial and economic crisis shattered the Lisbon Strategy’s attempt to increase the EU’s employment rate to 70% among 15–64 year olds by 2010. The new Europe 2020 strategy envisages a 75% adult employment rate by 2020; however, this goal also seems unrealistic in light of the economic crisis which has caused the EU’s employment rate to drop significantly below 70%. A crucial question now is whether a skill upgrade of the European labour force would help to increase the employment rate, especially among youth. This Forum explores the relationship between education and employment throughout the EU.

/pdf/challenges-facing-european-labour-markets-is-a-skill-upgrade-1dia70u3w8.pdf

Imanol Núñez

Papers

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

Higher education and unemployment in Europe: an analysis of the academic subject and national effects

The impact of the business cycle on occupational injuries in the UK

The impact of prevention measures and organisational factors on occupational injuries

Challenges facing European labour markets: Is a skill upgrade the appropriate instrument?