Occupational safety and health in shared workplaces according to workplace inspection reports

Abstract

The aim of this study was to create a holistic view of shared workplaces and the ways in which these ‘special situations’ for organizing work take place in practice. The characteristics of shared workplaces and the associated phenomena and challenges were also points of interest. Occupational safety and health inspection reports (N = 200) from the Regional State Administrative Agency of Finland were analysed to obtain information on the deficiencies observed in shared workplaces. The observations were categorized, and the categories were linked to the elements in the work system model. Thus, observation profiles for shared workplaces in the construction, manufacturing and mining and quarrying industries were created. In the observation profiles, significant differences were identified between two or more industries in terms of deficiencies related to organization, employee, task, tools and technology as well as work environment, i.e., the elements comprising the work system model.

Keywords:

• shared workplace
• occupational safety and health
• workplace inspection
• work system

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the ‘Shared Workplaces – Research, Supervision and Communications Project’ of the Occupational Safety and Health Section of the Regional State Administrative Agency (AVI) of Northern Finland.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.