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Economic Evaluation of Workplace and Systems-Level Interventions to Improve Occupational Health and Safety

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Economics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 8983

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Emile Tompa

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Work & Health; Department of Economics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada
Interests: economic evaluation; economic burden; occupational health and safety (OHS); work disability policy; workers’ compensation
Dr. Amirabbas Mofidi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Work & Health; School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Interests: occupational health and safety (OHS); economic evaluation; economic burden; applied macro and micro modeling
Dr. Thomas Tenkate

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Work & Health; School of Occupational and Public Health, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada
Interests: occupational health and safety (OHS); environmental health; exposure assessment; human health risk assessment; human exposure to ultraviolet radiation; risk management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the area of occupational health and safety (OHS), an economic evaluation provides invaluable information about resource implications (i.e., the costs and consequences) of alternatives being considered. In general, information on the human health and financial impacts of alternatives for workers, organizations, and society are critical inputs in the decision-making process, yet far too often such information is not readily available in the OHS field. Quite often, decision-makers will first ask about what interventions are effective in terms of targeted OHS impacts, and if effective, what the resource implications are of the interventions. It is difficult to move forward without having this information available across the range of alternatives being considered. Some intervention evaluations focus on workplace-level programs and initiatives, whereas others may consider system-level factors such as regulatory changes or the promotion of best practices across a sector. Both types of evaluations are within the scope of this Special Issue. Specifically, we invite researchers to contribute manuscripts that evaluate workplace- and system-level solutions for pressing OHS concerns, especially ones that combine rigorous academic standards coupled with a practical focus on providing insights for stakeholders in the OHS field.

Dr. Emile Tompa
Dr. Amirabbas Mofidi
Dr. Thomas Tenkate
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Occupational health and safety (OHS)
  • economic evaluation
  • cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA)
  • cost-benefit analysis (CBA)
  • human health risk assessment
  • effectiveness analysis

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1230 KiB  
Article
The Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System Intervention to Reduce Employee Work-Related Stress and Enhance Work Performance
by Irene Jensen, Zana Arapovic-Johansson and Emmanuel Aboagye
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 2431; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19042431 - 19 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2564
Abstract
Background: The study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMes) intervention to reduce employee work-related stress and enhance work performance. Methods: A prospective cohort study was used to undertake the evaluation from a business perspective. Objective workload data and [...] Read more.
Background: The study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMes) intervention to reduce employee work-related stress and enhance work performance. Methods: A prospective cohort study was used to undertake the evaluation from a business perspective. Objective workload data and stress were gathered repeatedly over a 17-month period (i.e., before and after intervention). Independent t-test and an interrupted time series (ITS) analysis were used in the analysis. The average cost-effectiveness ratio (ACER) was calculated as a ratio of the average cost of the intervention and the effect sizes of the different outcomes to reflect the average cost per clinician for each unit change in outcome. Results: Based on the results of the ITS analysis, an expenditure of EUR 41,487 was linked with no change in stress levels, according to the ACER for stress. In addition, the expenditures associated with each unit change were EUR 3319 for overall tasks per hour worked, EUR 2761 for visits per hour worked, EUR 2880 for administrative tasks, but EUR 9123 for answering phone calls. Conclusions: ProMes is not cost–effective in terms of work-related stress levels, but the intervention seemed to have increased efficiency in some objective work performance measures, albeit at a relatively high extra cost. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Evaluation of Workplace and Systems-Level Interventions to Improve Occupational Health and Safety)
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17 pages, 373 KiB  
Article
Cost Implications from an Employer Perspective of a Workplace Intervention for Carer-Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Regina Ding, Amiram Gafni and Allison Williams
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(4), 2194; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19042194 - 15 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3060
Abstract
In developed countries, population aging due to advances in living standards and healthcare infrastructure means that the care associated with chronic and degenerative diseases is becoming more prevalent across all facets of society—including the labour market. Informal caregiving, that is, care provision performed [...] Read more.
In developed countries, population aging due to advances in living standards and healthcare infrastructure means that the care associated with chronic and degenerative diseases is becoming more prevalent across all facets of society—including the labour market. Informal caregiving, that is, care provision performed by friends and family, is expected to increase in the near future in Canada, with implications for workplaces. Absenteeism, presenteeism, work satisfaction and retention are known to be worse in employees who juggle the dual role of caregiving and paid employment, representing losses to workplaces’ bottom line. Recent discourse on addressing the needs of carer-employees (CEs) in the workplace have been centred around carer-friendly workplace policies. This paper aims to assess the potential cost implication of a carer-friendly workplace intervention implemented within a large-sized Canadian workplace. The goal of the intervention was to induce carer-friendly workplace culture change. A workplace-wide survey was circulated twice, prior to and after the intervention, capturing demographic variables, as well as absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover and impact on coworkers. Utilizing the pre-intervention timepoint as a baseline, we employed a cost implication analysis to quantify the immediate impact of the intervention from the employer’s perspective. We found that the intervention overall was not cost-saving, although there were some mixed effects regarding some costs, such as absenteeism. Non-tangible benefits, such as changes to employee morale, satisfaction with supervisor, job satisfaction and work culture, were not monetarily quantified within this analysis; hence, we consider it to be a conservative analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Evaluation of Workplace and Systems-Level Interventions to Improve Occupational Health and Safety)
16 pages, 1031 KiB  
Article
Occupational Exposure to Wood Dust and the Burden of Nasopharynx and Sinonasal Cancer in Canada
by Amirabbas Mofidi, Emile Tompa, Christina Kalcevich, Christopher McLeod, Martin Lebeau, Chaojie Song, Joanne Kim and Paul A. Demers
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(3), 1144; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijerph19031144 - 20 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2533
Abstract
Background: Millions of workers around the world are exposed to wood dust, as a by-product of woodworking. Nasopharynx cancers (NPCs) and sinonasal cancers (SNCs) are two cancers that can be caused by occupational exposure to wood dust, but there is little evidence regarding [...] Read more.
Background: Millions of workers around the world are exposed to wood dust, as a by-product of woodworking. Nasopharynx cancers (NPCs) and sinonasal cancers (SNCs) are two cancers that can be caused by occupational exposure to wood dust, but there is little evidence regarding their burden in Canada. Objective: the aim of this study was to estimate the incidence and economic burden of newly diagnosed cases of NPC and SNC in 2011 in Canada, attributable to occupational exposures to wood dust. Methods: calculating the incidence of cancer attributable to occupational exposure involved three steps of defining relative risk, assessing the prevalence of exposure and population modelling. We estimated the lifetime costs of newly diagnosed NPC and SNC from the societal perspective. The three major cost categories that we considered were direct costs (healthcare costs, out-of-pocket costs, and informal caregiving costs), indirect costs (labour productivity/output costs, employer adjustment costs, and home production losses), and intangible costs (health-related quality of life losses). To generate an estimate of economic burden, we used secondary data from multiple sources and applied them to our computational model developed from an extensive literature review. Results: From approximately 1.3 million workers exposed to wood dust, we expected 28%, 43% and 29% were exposed to low, medium, and high levels, respectively. We estimated from 235 newly diagnosed cases of NPC and 245 newly diagnosed cases of SNC, 4.6% (11 cases) and 4.4% (11 cases) were attributed to occupational exposure to wood dust, respectively. Our estimates of the economic burden of occupational NPC and SNC were about CAD 5.4 million (CAD 496,311 per-case) and CAD 6.7 million (CAD 627,437 per-case), respectively. For NPC direct costs constituted approximately 20% of all costs, and indirect and intangible costs accounted for 55% and 25%, while for SNC the breakdown distribution were 16%, 42% and 42%, respectively. Conclusions: Our estimates highlighted the importance of occupational NPC and SNC amongst other occupational cancers, especially in countries with large wood-related industries. This paper also serves the information needs of policymakers who are seeking to make evidence-based decisions about occupational cancer prevention efforts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Economic Evaluation of Workplace and Systems-Level Interventions to Improve Occupational Health and Safety)
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