Description du projet :
Background: Labour inspection is the oldest regulatory institution in charge of the enforcement of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) standards in the workplace. There is a wide variety of inspection systems worldwide. Since the 1980s, they have been challenged by the transformation of labour markets
and work organization. These changes include: the shift from vertically integrated companies to global production networks or “hybrid” organisations (platforms); the diversification of contractual conditions and demographic transformations with growing numbers of migrant and female workers entering the
labour market. The sociological literature suggests that working time flexibility has emerged as a cross-cutting dimension across all transformations, while large-scale studies showing that work intensification and irregular working time arrangements are among the main factors that account for increasing physical and psychosocial risks. Labour inspection has a crucial role to play to protect the health and safety of workers in this context. The literature has documented a wide range of innovative responses to reinforce OHS compliance, such as: managerial and technical measures to enhance operational efficiency; the strategic combination of different enforcement approaches; the cooperation between different types of inspection and other actors.
Objective: Research on the impact of labour inspection on the protection of workers’ health and safety related to the transformations of work has relied on experimental designs and yielded contradictory, ultimately uncertain results. This is not surprising since impact cannot be easily isolated as a causal mechanism given the complexities (and power relations) that affect work-related health outcomes. We thus propose to adopt a “realistic evaluation approach” arguing that the result of labour inspection interventions can be measured using a multi-level evaluation scale. We will therefore organise our
research around two main questions: What strategies have been adopted by different labour inspections in Switzerland to deal with the effects of working time flexibility on workers’ health and safety? And which inspection practices have been more effective? The Swiss case is particularly interesting because
of the multiple institutional arrangements for dealing with specific aspects of OHS. The existence of private law inspection arrangements in certain sectors alongside a federal structure can translate into different enforcement practices from one region to another, but also create scope for innovative initiatives at the local level. There is however a dearth of research on labour inspection in Switzerland, which our project aims to address.
Methods: To answer our research questions, we propose to analyse two sectors (construction and retail) which are heavily but differently affected by the flexibilization of working time (in part due to their different gendered character), in three cantons (Aargau, Geneva and Ticino) where labour inspection differs in terms of institutional architecture, intervention approaches. We thus intend to assess how the innovative practices that labour inspections have deployed respond to the challenges of labour market transformations. To do so, we build on the realistic evaluation framework to understand what kind of
inspection interventions work, why, how and under what circumstances, by focusing on one lead firm in each sector. We will select firms that operate in the three cantons and integrate high working time flexibility in their organization. The effect of labour inspection’s interventions would be analysed by assessing changes in the different steps of the realistic evaluation scale, particularly the first 4 steps:(1) improvements in knowledge of workers and firms (1); workers’ and employer’s attitudes (2); improvements in the companies’ working environment (3); the adoption of safer production technology
and work processes (4).
Expected results and impact: Leveraging the professional and academic expertise of the applicants and project partners, as well as the support of the main representatives of the Swiss inspection system to ensure access to the field, our project will contribute to filling the gap of social science research on
labour inspection in Switzerland, shedding light on the ways in which inspection can help mitigate very serious health risks for the population. With its use-inspired orientation and institutional anchoring, we are confident that the project can generate relevant recommendations for labour inspection that can be implemented in the short-term, including in response to the already identified need for improved training for labour inspectors.
Research team within HES-SO:
Martinelli Aris
, Pelizzari Alessandro
Durée du projet:
01.03.2025 - 31.03.2028
Montant global du projet: 661'354 CHF
Statut: Ongoing
SWITCH edu-ID
Administration
