EU-OSHA. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. ESENER Survey asked about health and safety management, management of stress, violence and harassment and about the way in which workers are involved. http://www.esener.eu/

1. Working together for risk prevention
What can ESENER tell us about management leadership and worker
participation?
Name and title of speaker
Date | Event title
Safety and health at work is everyone’s concern. It’s good for you. It’s good for business.

2. ESENER – a window on how health and safety is managed in
workplaces across 31 countries
In 2009, 36,000 managers and worker representatives were
interviewed across 29,000 workplaces.
ESENER asked about health and safety management,
management of stress, violence and harassment and about the
way in which workers are involved.
www.esener.eu 2

3. What does ESENER tell us about management
leadership?
 The survey included directly relevant questions:
• Is health and safety raised regularly in high level management meetings?
• Is there a policy, management system or action plan on health and safety?
 and supporting questions, such as:
• Do you have procedures in place?
• Do you take preventive measures?
• Do you use specialist information?
 These questions can be combined to generate a composite health and
safety score
• As explained in the report:
Management of occupational safety and health – an analysis of the findings
of the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks
(ESENER).
Available at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/management-of-occupational-safety-
and-health-analysis-of-data-from-the-esener/view
www.esener.eu 3

4. Management leadership
Health and safety issues raised regularly in high level
management meetings
% establishments
It is important that health and safety is
100 discussed at the highest levels so that
it can be integrated in key business
processes and is seen as a priority for
80 the whole organisation.
60
40
20
0
EE
7
BE
DE
NO
RO
TA G
FR
IE
UK
DK
HR
HU
CH
SE
ES
FI
CY
31
EL
SK
LU
TR
NL
CZ
AT
LV
SI
IT
PL
PT
LT
T
-2
TO B
M
EU
L
www.esener.eu 4

5. Management leadership
Prevalence of a documented policy, established management
system or action plan on health and safety
A document explaining how health and
% establishments safety is managed, including the lines of
100 responsibility, is essential for clear and
effective leadership.
90
80
70
60
50
85% of managers state that the
40
policy has an impact
30
20
10
0
EE
7
BE
DE
BG
NO
RO
FR
IE
UK
DK
HU
HR
CH
ES
SE
FI
CY
31
EL
SK
LU
TR
NL
T O CZ
AT
LV
SI
IT
LT
PL
PT
T
-2
M
EU
L
TA
www.esener.eu 5

6. Management leadership
Health and safety management composite score
The composite score combines the
results from nine survey questions on
health and safety management actions
9
and procedures.
7.7
8 7.7 7.7
7
Predicted OSH score
5.3
6 5.2
5.1
5
4
3
2
1
0
EL TR CH LU FR LT AT DE LV CY EE CZ PL MT HU SI PT BE SK RO HR NL FI DK IT NO BG ES IE SE UK
Country
www.esener.eu 6

7. Management leadership
Size of establishment and health and safety management
composite score
8
7
Predicted OSH score
6
The size of the workplace is the strongest
predictor of the level of health and safety
management. Below 150 employees, the
average number of preventive measures
5
and policies starts to tail off rapidly.
4
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Size of establishment (number of employees)
www.esener.eu 7

8. Management leadership
Size of establishment and health and safety management
composite score in different countries
9
8
7
Sweden
6
Spain
In some countries even the very smallest Slovenia
5
workplaces indicate high levels of health and
safety measures and procedures. Germany
However, we must remember that without
4 genuine management commitment these can be France
simply a ‘paper exercise’.
3
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
www.esener.eu 8

9. What does ESENER tell us about worker
participation?
 What form of worker participation is in place?
• Direct involvement of workers or through representation (health and
safety representative, health and safety committee, works council, or
shop-floor trades union)
• How does this affect the prevalence of procedures or measures to
manage health and safety?
 Secondary analysis combining type of worker participation with
management commitment
• As explained in the report:
Worker representation and consultation on health and safety -
an analysis of the findings of the European Survey of Enterprises on
New and Emerging Risks (ESENER).
Available at:
http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/esener_workers-
involvement/view
www.esener.eu 9

10. Worker participation
Workplaces regularly checked as part of a risk assessment:
the effect of employee representation
% establishments, EU27
Risk assessment is more
100 likely if there is a health
and safety representative
– especially in small firms.
95
90
85
80
75
10 to 19 20 to 49 50 to 249 250 to 499 500 + EU-27
Average
Total Establishments with H&S representative
www.esener.eu 10

11. Worker participation
Effect of worker representation and management commitment on the
likelihood of having a health and safety policy in place
12
Management commitment is associated with having a health and
safety policy, as is having worker representation (especially if it is
specific to health and safety). However, the effect is greatest where
10
high management commitment is combined with both forms of worker
representation.
8
Odds ratios
6
4
2
0
No representation General only Specialist only Both forms
Low management commitment High management commitment
Forms of worker representation: General — works council and/or trade union representative;
Specialist OSH — health and safety committee and/or health and safety representative
www.esener.eu 11

12. Worker participation
Effect of worker representation and management commitment
on the prevalence of measures to deal with psychosocial risks
6
5
Once again, the combination of high management commitment
together with worker representation (especially if it is specific to
health and safety) is strongly associated with better management of
4
stress, violence and harassment.
Odds ratios
3
2
1
0
No representation General only Specialist only Both forms
Low management commitment High management commitment
Forms of worker representation: General — works council and/or trade union representative;
Specialist OSH — health and safety committee and/or health and safety representative
www.esener.eu 12

13. Worker participation
Where do we find high management commitment combined
with both general and specific worker representation?
Nordic traditions of social
dialogue are particularly
evident in the smaller sized
establishments.
Forms of worker representation: General — works council and/or trade union representative;
Specialist OSH — health and safety committee and/or health and safety representative
www.esener.eu 13

14. Summary of main conclusions from OSH management
and worker participation studies
 Firms take a systematic approach to managing OSH
• Goal-setting approach of Framework Directive appears successful in getting
firms to address OSH using a coherent, systems-based approach
 Smallest establishments need support
• Below 150 employees management of OSH starts to fall rapidly, but the
extent to which this happens varies across countries
 Worker participation is a key success factor
• Health and safety representatives make an important difference; they need
further support, particularly in facing up to the challenges posed by
psychosocial risks
 Worker participation and management leadership
• Workplaces that have high management commitment and both forms of
worker representation (OSH + union/works council) are nearly 10 times more
likely to have an OSH policy than workplaces that have no commitment or
representation
www.esener.eu 14

15. Further information
www.esener.eu
 Find out more about ESENER
 Download publications
 Use our interactive tool to generate results by country, establishment
size and sector
www.esener.eu 15