1. 2nd Steering Group meeting 17 September, 2015
Out of sight, out of mind? Research into occupational safety and health of distributed workers
2nd Steering Group meeting
17 September, 2015

2. Agenda Progress to Plan (KN) Update on literature review (KD)
Update on interviews (RN)
Update on coding exercise (RN)
Update on survey and recruitment (KN)
Outcomes (KD)
Use of media to keep in touch (LinkedIn, Web page, Dropbox etc.) (KN)
AOB

3. Progress to Plan
WP1: Standard and systematic approach to lit. review (Jan-March 2015)
Explicit search terms- agreed before hand, multiple databases, reliability checks
WP2: 10 expert & 40 practitioner interviews (April – Dec 2015)
Semi-structured interviews based on lit. review , thoroughly piloted and checked with SC
Interviews often telephone but not exclusively
Thematic & comparative analysis using N-Vivo – development of q’naire
WP3: On-line survey – complex, nested data structure (Jan 2015 – June 2016)
OHS practitioners (25)
Up to 20 line managers (est. min 150)
Min. 3 distributed workers (est. min 450)
Tailored to contexts and roles – based on WP1 and WP2 - thoroughly piloted and checked with SC
Multilevel structural equation modelling

4. Literature review OSH leadership + distributed work
922 papers as ‘hits’
PubMed, Psycinfo, ScholarGoogle and Web of Science databases;
1995 to February 2015
Empirical
English language in peer reviewed journals
Each sift progressively more focused on core topics
1st sift = 408
2nd sift = 65
3rd sift = 23

5. Literature review: Evidence statement # 1
Leadership and management
Perceived support from organisations and managers and good leader-worker relationships predict OSH related outcomes. Instrumental support appears important as does knowledge exchange between units. Communication and access to ICTs (especially video-conferencing etc) may be important for facilitating this.
Transformational leadership important for motivating safe behaviours and well-being, but only if leader is trusted and/or workers focused on their hopes/aspirations
Leaders’ demonstrating commitment to safety (safety climate) important for safety
Distributed workers may benefit in many ways (e.g. job satisfaction, feedback, personal development, empowerment) if managers also engage in similar distributed work (perhaps because this enables better understanding of teleworkers context)
Competent leadership related to worker job satisfaction
Managers’ workload may get in the way of effective OSH leadership

6. Literature review: Evidence statement # 2
Interaction
Face-to-face communication and instant messaging related to stress from interruptions for distributed workers/lack of interruptions a positive feature of telework
Communication/support a challenge for distributed working around OSH – especially if natural face-to-face communication a problem or ICTs have to be used instead (e.g. for asynchronous working) – can cause problems with role ambiguity, workload etc
messages should be clear and to the point

7. Literature review: Evidence statement # 3
Motivation and emotion
Motivation (and motivational strategies such as planning, supervisors using motivating language) predicts safety behaviour/well-being indicators
Safety systems/infratructure
Sophisticated safety climate [subsuming support structures and processes and investment] important for safety

8. Interviews
36 Interviews completed to date with OSH practitioners across the following organisations.
The remaining 4 interviews to be completed by the end of September
Organisation Size Ownership Hazard Sector
Large Private both Utility
Large Public both Local Authority
Large Public low Industrial mediation/advice
Large Private both Energy
Large Public High Public services
Large Private High Engineering / Project (global)
Large Private High Construction, engineering
SBU of MNC Private High Engineering oil and gas (global)
Large Private both Public transportation
Small Private both Farming
Small Private both Design services
Large Private both Logistics (goods transportation, global)
Large Private both Consultancy / outsource provider
Large Public Low Higher education
Large Private both Examination services (global)
Small Private both Domestic goods supply and fit Small Private Low Consultancy, training

9. DATA CODING NVIVO software, coding underway
Coding categories derived from expert interviews, literature review and leadership literature:
Dimensions of leadership from leadership frameworks: (Authentic, Transformational, Ethical, LMX, Servant Leadership, e-leadership, Considerate leadership);Health sector specific leadership (Gurt et al, 2011), and, Safety specific Leadership (Barling et al, 2002)
Management competencies (Donaldson-Feilder et al, 2008)
Enablers of OSH (safety specific, job specific, ‘top down’)
Barriers of OSH
Safety climate specific quotes (work group, organisational)
Hazards and risks, types of DW, case studies, good quotes
Quote: ‘It’s taking personal responsibility to make sure that I’m aware of it, I’m constantly looking at it. I’m driving the message down to the supervisors and I’m watching it. They are then pushing it down to the guys, if you see what I mean. So I suppose that’s the most important thing for me – to make sure it is taken seriously and that it’s never forgotten.’ (Interview participant)

10. Survey and recruitment
25 organisations have agreed to help administer the survey, or expressed an interest in taking part
Organisation Size Ownership Hazard Sector
Large Private both Utility
Large Public both Local Authority
Large Public low Industrial mediation/advice
Large Private both Energy
Large Public High Public services
Large Private High Engineering / Project (global)
Large Private High Construction, engineering
SBU of MNC Private High Engineering oil and gas (global)
Large Private both Public transportation
Small Private both Design services
Large Private both Logistics (goods transportation, global)
Large Private both Consultancy / outsource provider
Large Private both Examination services (global)
Small Private both Domestic goods supply and fit
Small Private Low Consultancy, training
Medium Private High Fuel importers
Large Private Low Engineering, technical, business consultancy
New! A further 7 oganisations

11. Survey strategy and future plans
Explore the cascading from OSH practitioners to line managers and from line managers to employees
Good OSH leadership for distributed workers:
‘It’s taking personal responsibility to make sure that I’m aware of it, I’m constantly looking at it. I’m driving the message down to the supervisors and I’m watching it. They are then pushing it down to the guys, if you see what I mean. So I suppose that’s the most important thing for me – to make sure it is taken seriously and that it’s never forgotten.’ (Interview participant)
Stage 2:
We are looking for more organisations to participate in survey phase!
Who do we need?
Do you know anybody?

12. Outcomes in survey Overriding concern to keep survey short
Which do we need, which can we live without, what are we missing?
Safety - examples
Incidents
Reporting near misses
Safety compliance
Safety climate
Safety commitment
Health - examples
General health (single item)
Psychosomatic/muscular-skeletal
Wellbeing - examples
Affective wellbeing (3 anxiety/3 depression)
Job satisfaction (single item)

13. Social media
LinkedIn
Twitter
Web page
Drop box
Updates on ?

14. AOB Next meeting?