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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND ERGONOMICS
Volume 7 Number 4, 2001
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Special Issue:
CONTENTS
Editorial:
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Occupational Safety and Health
Holger Luczak & Matthias Roetting Order 
Articles:
  STRATEGIES AND CHANGES
STRATEGIES AND CHANGES/REGIONAL CULTURES
REGIONAL CULTURES
DISCIPLINARY CULTURES
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International Comparison of Occupational Safety and Health Research-A Review Based on Published Articles
Matthias Brueggmann, Matthias Roetting, Holger Luczak
A comparison of international literature in occupational safety and health (OSH) research over the years from 1980 to 1998 was conducted. The comparison is based on the different languages of the over 35,000 articles, which were collected from different databases. The distribution of languages in the analyzed data has to be considered carefully with respect to the original purpose of the data collection and the specific role of the international publication language, English. The comparison shows that in several aspects OSH research does not differ in different publication languages. In some methodological aspects, and in specific objects of research, differences between articles published in different languages can be found.
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The Future of Occupational Safety and Health
Tom Leamon
Pressures from 3 sources are combining to advance workplace safety and health throughout the globe. Firstly, an increasingly widespread growth in a State's interest in the individual, both in and outside the workplace. This leads to regulations, which are rapidly changing from prescriptive to enabling (performance) regulations. An increasing acceptance of sophisticated accounting procedures will drive the real costs of poor health and safety to the bottom line of corporations. Finally, the trend to globalization, both of manufacturing and of marketing, has led to an increasing demand from consumer societies from product attributes beyond price. In many countries there is an expectation that working conditions in producing countries are not inferior to those in the consuming countries.
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Company Strategies and Program for Implementing Ergonomics
Arne Aaras
Three periods of work environmental activity in the company will be presented: (a) A period without a work environmental organization and an environmental budget, covered approximately 1 year; (b) A period when an environmental organization with a separate work environmental budget was established. This period covered 15 years; (c) A period when the company was divided in 3 companies without a separate work environmental budget, but still an environmental organization, covering the last 12 years.
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Action-Oriented Support for Occupational Safety and Health Programs in Some Developing Countries in Asia
Tsuyoshi Kawakami, Kazutaka Kogi
Action-oriented support programs have been increasingly playing vital roles in promoting safety and health in developing countries in Asia. This paper studied achievements of 3 action-oriented support programs: the WISE program for small enterprises, the WIND program for farmers, and the POSITIVE program for workers and trade unions. Special attention was paid to how the programs have strengthened local efforts for sustainable actions in safety and health improvements. The results showed that there were significant achievements in action-oriented support programs in the region, including a large number of improvement examples, integration into government policies, and network support through employers' and workers' organizations. Participatory, action-oriented training tools such as action-checklists, local good example photos, and group work methods played key roles in the effective implementation of the programs. It was of note that there were a number of local efforts to extend the coverage of action-oriented support even to hard-to-reach workers such as home-based workers, rural workers, and ethnic minorities. The efforts included the equal participation in the training by female and male farmers, shortened and weekend training programs, photo sheets showing local good examples, and reasonable fee collection for better sustainability. In conclusion, action-oriented support programs provided local people with concrete means to promote safety and health improvements. The successful programs commonly focused on local initiatives and were built on local wisdom and resources.
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Working Life Across Cultures: "Work Life 2000: Quality in Work" and Occupational Health Education in Developing Countries
Bengt Knave, Richard Ennals
The article reflects on the changing world of work, and the challenges presented to both occupational health and occupational health education. We draw on the 63 preparatory workshops and the international conference in the "Work Life 2000: Quality in Work" program, an initiative of the Swedish Presidency of the European Union. The International Commission on Occupational Health is introduced, with particular concentration on a current practical project initiated by the Department of Health in South Africa, intended to lead to a set of projects, networking for occupational health education in developing countries. The practical initiatives cast light on a new set of issues which arise when occupational health and safety crosses cultural barriers, and previously separate comparative cases are linked.
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Integrative Efforts in Occupational Safety and Health in the European Union
Andreas Horst
The European Union has had a long tradition in developing a common European social policy from its beginning. A milestone to European social policy in the field of occupational safety and health was the Single European Act in 1986. With this Single European Act the improvement of the work environment became an explicit objective of the community. Since that starting point several legislative and nonlegislative actions have been taken to face the huge challenges of globalisation with a targeted social policy. The aim of this policy is to reconcile the interests of the employers in productive and competitive workplaces with the interests of the employees in healthy working conditions.
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Poland in Transition to the European Union (in the Context of Meeting Standards in Occupational Safety and Health)
Danuta Koradecka
Economic transformation has had a positive influence in Poland on statistical indices that characterize occupational safety and health (OSH). Surprisingly, working conditions have not deteriorated. Methodological differences make comparing statistical data in various countries difficult. OHS standards in Poland are harmonized with European and international standards. Testing and certification, quality and OSH management systems are very important, as are education and training in OSH and international cooperation. Increasing unemployment is a significant threat the development of OSH or even maintenance of its current state.
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Occupational Health and Safety from Communist to Capitalistic Structures
Klaus Scheuch, Yurij I. Kundiev
This article focuses on individual effects of the transformation from communist to capitalist structures in the system of occupational health and safety (OHS). Despite basic similarities among the communist nations the systems of OHS differed immensely. The political changes during transformation additionally contributed to varying opportunities for the development of OHS systems. Changes affecting the living and working conditions are significant and are demonstrated by the development of new work structures and work biographies. This is reflected in changed attitudes to demands and contents of work. No differences, however, were found between the employed and unemployed when asked about these issues. Conclusions for OHS in postcommunist states are drawn.
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Occupational Health in Brazil
Ruddy Facci
The author presents a review of the history of occupational health in Brazil, concerning the last 3 centuries. This period was divided into (a) slave labour, (b) immigrant labour, and (c) industrial labour. The author shows the early occupational diseases, pioneering occupational physicians and Brazilian laws on the subject. The creation of Fundacentro (Brazilian Foundation of Occupational Health and Safety) and the foundation of the Brazilian Association on Occupational Medicine (ANAMT) are described as well as their activities. The author concludes the article by showing the importance of the actions of the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Social Security for the development of occupational health in Brazil.
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Ergonomics as Integrating Constituent in Occupational Safety and HealthľPast, Present, and Future
Matthias Roetting, Holger Luczak
Ergonomics as a discipline was in the past, is in the present, and will be in the future, an integrating constituent in occupational safety and health (OSH). This statement is based on the self-conception of ergonomics and the level concept of human work. It is further supported by the results of about 120 interviews with German experts involved in research projects of the last 2 decades and the results of a quantitative analysis of international literature. The most important themes of past research are compiled and a prognosis of research themes of the future is given. The future role of ergonomics is exemplified by its contributions to the further development of OSH management systems.
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Occupational MedicineľIts Contribution to Protection and Promotion of Health at Work
Klaus Scheuch, Eva Haufe, Attiya Khan
This article deals with the special demands on occupational medicine due to the changes of work and as well of tasks at workplaces. Conclusions for research in occupational medicine are drawn from these processes. They are discussed on the basis on an analysis of literature from the years 1980-1998. Focuses of future research in the field of occupational medicine are developed by taking international tendencies, the interdisciplinary setting of occupational medicine, and the close relations between science and practice into consideration.
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Occupational Health and Social Resources
Oleg Cernavin, Peter Lemke-Goliasch
There is a relationship between the changes in work related diseases and the following factors: the transformation of the organization of work, organizational development, as well as human and social changes in the work environment. These factors also influence the maintenance of industrial health and safety standards at work. Safety technology will continue to be important, but will be reduced in significance compared to the so called 'soft factors' i.e. all dimensions and parameters affecting people's health and social environment at the work place.
It seems that in the future the relationship between the Social Resource Development and Work Protection will be getting more relevant. Social resource development influences the quality of work performance and motivation, the quality of work and work protection, the likelihood of accidents and breakdowns, and the level of self-control and capacity of change.
The consequences of work protection research will be discussed in this article with a focus on the contribution of social sciences.
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Psychological Approaches to Occupational Safety and Health ResearchľAn Evaluation of 20 Years of Psychological Research on Industrial Safety and Health in Germany
Karlheinz Sonntag
During the past 20 years of research in occupational safety and health (OSH), major contributions have been made by psychology in general, foremost German work and organizational psychology. This is the result of an empirical study with 216 scientific projects that were analyzed by content, and 32 interviews on OSH with experts on science, as well as in professional occupations and federations. Its sound methodological and theoretical approach has helped work and organizational psychology to embody itself as a driving force of OSH. The research focuses on the development of tools for job analysis, striving for the valid diagnosis of occupational hazards and mental load. Consequently, work and organizational psychology provides a solid foundation for deriving human and personality ameliorating organizational measures. Among the predominant means of intervention are training of coping with stress, behavioral training and modeling, health circles, and the arrangement of environments sensitive to occupational load. Major deficits in the field of research show up within evaluation and transfer as well as within quality control of the developed diagnostic and devices regarding intervention. Future scientific effort by means of application-orientated methods is vital to detect and overcome effectively a mounting mental load in the occupational world.
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