SafetyInsights.org

This study explored the links between safety climate at work as a predictor for the risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA).

They followed 63,500 employees from the general working population in Denmark, without prior LTSA, over four biannual national cohort surveys from 2012-2018.

Providing background:

• An average of 3.6% of the working population in Denmark is absent every day due to sickness absence, and 5.6% have experienced LTSA within the last 12 months
• LTSA is strongly associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality
• Safety climate in prior work has been correlated to factors linked to LTSA, so these authors propose that it’s likely also a factor in long-term sickness absence
• Prior safety climate has also shown associations with predicting mental health problems, worker engagement and able to mediate the influence of accidents on job stress, job satisfaction and turn over intent

Results

Over the two-year period, 8.6% of the population who did not have LTSA subsequently developed/reported LTSA.

Compared to people who reported no problems related to work-related safety climate, people reporting one safety climate issue had a heightened risk of developing LTSA of 1.13, reporting two safety climate issues at 1.20, and 1.44 for reporting 4-5 issues.

Thus, “workers reporting one or more safety climate problems were at a higher risk of experiencing LTSA compared to those who reported no problems” (p3). People reporting one issue had a 13% higher risk of reporting LTSA, and those who reported 4-5 issues were at a 44% higher risk of reporting LTSA.

Even when controlling for a range of factors (age, gender, education, year of survey reply, BMI, smoking status, weekly hours of leisure physical activity), the number of reported safety climate issues was still significantly predictive of LTSA. Therefore, “the association between safety climate problems and LTSA is a generalizable finding that seems to apply to all workers” (p3).

They also found that people who worked more physically demanding jobs tended to report more safety climate issues, so they’re likely more at risk of LTSA.

Curiously, they stated that “8% of all LTSA in the general working population of Denmark could potentially be prevented if there were no safety climate problems present.” [** I say curiously because I wonder if this is overextending correlation and causation, but is an interesting thread to explore nevertheless.]

Discussing the findings, they cite literature showing that positive safety climates and improved mental and physical work ability may protect against LTSA. Safety climate may also be a mediating influence on job stress, satisfaction and turnover intent; all possible pathways of minimising or aggravating risk of future LTSA depending on the direction of influence.

They note that while the original safety climate surveys are large – >40 items, this work demonstrates that a survey with as few as 5 items is still predictive of LTSA and “may be highly valuable in identifying OSH risk factors”.

They briefly discuss interventions to improve the conditions at work related to safety climate and LTSA. A recent systematic review highlighted the value of the ‘public health hierarchy of hazard controls’, aimed at improving organisational, group and personnel measures.

And finally, a host of limitations were of course present. Noting one caveat from the paper: “Obviously not all LTSA is relatable or predictable through safety climate measurements” (p3).

Authors: Brandt, M., Andersen, L. L., Kines, P., & Ajslev, J. Z. (2023). Safety climate at work and risk of long-term sickness absence: Prospective cohort with register follow-up among 63,500 workers. Safety Science, 166, 106217.

Study link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2023.106217

Link to the LinkedIn article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/safety-climate-work-risk-long-term-sickness-absence-among-hutchinson