European Agency for Safety and Health at Work Improving compliance with occupational safety and health regulations: an overarching review European Risk Observatory Literature review Improving compliance with occupational safety and health regulations: an overarching review – Literature review Authors: David Walters, Scientific Project Leader, Emeritus Professor, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, United Kingdom Richard Johnstone, Professor, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Elizabeth Bluff, Visiting Fellow, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), Australian National University Hans Jørgen Limborg, Project Manager, Research Director, TeamArbejdsliv, and Adjunct Professor, Roskilde University, Denmark Ulrik Gensby, Senior Researcher, TeamArbejdsliv, Denmark, and Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Work and Health, Canada Project Management: Dietmar Elsler, Annick Starren, Lothar Lieck, Malgorzata Milczarek, Ioannis Anyfantis, William Cockburn, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work This report was commissioned by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of EU-OSHA. More information on the European Union is available on the internet (http://europa.eu). Cataloguing data can be found on the cover of this publication. © European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, 2021 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work —- EU-OSHA 2 Improving compliance with occupational safety and health regulations: an overarching review – Literature review Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 7 Preamble — A short introduction to the literature review ........................................................................ 8 Chapter 1: Analytical framework ― regulatory concepts and theory .................................................... 10 1.1 What we understand by regulation .............................................................................................. 10 1.2 Concepts and principles for understanding compliance and its relationship with best OSH practice.................................................................................................................................. 12 1.2.1 Different interpretations of compliance ................................................................................. 12 1.2.2 How OSH regulatory standards sustain compliance and enable best OSH practice ........... 13 1.2.3 Foundations of compliance ................................................................................................... 15 1.2.4 How the wider context shapes and poses challenges for compliance.................................. 16 1.2.5 A holistic framework for understanding factors influencing compliance ............................... 17 1.3 Approaches and theories for monitoring (inspecting), promoting and enforcing compliance ...... 21 1.3.1 Early regulatory approaches and theories ............................................................................ 21 1.3.2 Later regulatory theories and approaches ............................................................................ 23 1.3.3 Some observations about regulatory theories and approaches ........................................... 29 1.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 2: Challenges for supporting compliance and better OSH practice in the EU — changing work arrangements, Member State contexts and measures of work-related harm ................................ 31 2.1 Changing work arrangements in the Member States .................................................................. 31 2.2 Member State contexts ................................................................................................................ 37 2.3 Evidence of harm ......................................................................................................................... 42 2.4 Conclusions and consequences for further work ......................................................................... 44 Chapter 3: Societal norms, social reporting, corporate social responsibility and support for securing compliance ............................................................................................................................................ 47 3.1 Social or societal? The use of terminology in this chapter .......................................................... 48 3.2 Social norms, work and OSH ....................................................................................................... 50 3.3 Social reporting and OSH ............................................................................................................ 53 3.4 Certification of OSH arrangements .............................................................................................. 55 3.5 Corporate social responsibility and OSH ..................................................................................... 56 3.6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 4: Economic incentives in support of securing compliance ..................................................... 64 4.1 Some theoretical considerations .................................................................................................. 65 4.2 Development of the role of economic incentives in promoting improved OSH arrangements .... 67 4.3 Paradoxes and unanswered questions ........................................................................................ 71 4.4 Conclusions and questions for further research .......................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: Supporting compliance and better OSH practice through leverage in supply chain relations ................................................................................................................................................. 76 5.1 Supply chains — their prominence, influence and diversity ........................................................ 76 European Agency for Safety and Health at Work —- EU-OSHA 3 Improving compliance with occupational safety and health regulations: an overarching review – Literature review 5.2 Supply chains and OSH ............................................................................................................... 77 5.3 Determining outcomes in supply chains ...................................................................................... 79 5.4 Spontaneous compliance models and supply chains .................................................................. 80 5.5 Enforced compliance with OSH standards in supply chains ....................................................... 85 5.6 Conclusions and questions for further research .......................................................................... 91 Chapter 6: Prevention services ............................................................................................................. 95 6.1 Aims ............................................................................................................................................. 95 6.2 Form and function of prevention services — historical perspectives .......................................... 96 6.3 Models of prevention service provision in the EU ........................................................................ 98 6.4 Typologies of national provision of OSH preventive services in the EU ...................................... 99 6.5 Prevention in current practice — market demands, structures and professional capacities ..... 104 6.5.1 Marketisation of prevention services ................................................................................... 105 6.5.2 Consequences of the reorganisation and restructuring of work for prevention services .... 106 6.5.3 Change in the nature of OSH professions, their orientations and practice ......................... 111 6.6 Conclusions and recommendations for further research ........................................................... 112 Chapter 7: Encouraging novel approaches by OSH regulators .......................................................... 116 7.1 Discourse at international and EU levels ................................................................................... 117 7.2 Policy and practice of OSH regulators at the Member State level............................................. 119 7.2.1 Priorities and resource allocation ........................................................................................ 119 7.2.2 Programmes and interventions for securing compliance .................................................... 121 7.2.3 How inspection and enforcement are conducted ................................................................ 122 7.2.4 Insights from empirical studies ............................................................................................ 124 7.2.5 Summary of policy and practice .......................................................................................... 127 7.3 Novel approaches at