Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hammer LB ; Pytlovany AC ; Truxillo DM
• Description:
  Conflicting responsibilities across work and non-work domains are a top cause of stress for workers today, leading to numerous negative outcomes for organizations, employees, and their families. The challenge of balancing work and family/personal life role pressures can lead to reduced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, increased absenteeism and burnout, reduced family and life satisfaction, and increased health problems, psychological strain, depression, and substance use (Amstad, Meier, Fasel, Elfering, & Semmer, 2011). Although recommendations for organizational work-life and health initiatives are needed, few theory-based interventions have been developed or systematically tested using rigorous scientific designs. Further, few studies have tested the effectiveness of Total Worker Health(R) (TWH(R)) interventions. This is despite growing recognition of the importance of TWH perspectives for improving employee well-being. Even fewer published studies utilize primary organization-level interventions - a critical leverage point for change (Anger et al., 2014; Tetrick & Winslow, 2015). The Safety and Health Improvement Program (SHIP) was created to address these gaps and answer the call for scientific, research-based guidance on best practices for organizational TWH(R) interventions. The SHIP intervention sought to promote employee health, safety, work-life balance, and team effectiveness among municipal construction workers. Construction workers are a particularly relevant population to intervene on as they face unique workplace hazards and are a sector identified by the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) as in need of targeted occupational health and safety research attention (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nora/councils/const/default.html). Moreover, research has demonstrated construction workers as a vulnerable population (Bodner, Kraner, Bradford, Hammer, & Truxillo, 2014). Applying a TWH(R) approach, the SHIP intervention consisted of a one-hour, computer-based supervisor training on family- and safety-supportive supervisor behaviors; two-week goal-setting and behavior tracking for supervisors to ensure transfer of training; consultant-facilitated team effectiveness sessions (WFD Consulting, https://www.wfd.com/); and regularly scheduled follow-up meetings designed to help integrate and sustain change. SHIP targeted reduction of work and personal demands associated with strain and burnout while concurrently increasing job and individual resources related to work engagement and well-being. Effectiveness of the SHIP intervention was tested using a clustered, randomized controlled trial (RCT) design in 2012-2013. Randomization was at the team level and data were collected across three time points. Eleven teams were assigned to the intervention condition (n = 154), and nine teams to the control group (n = 117). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) results revealed the treatment group had reduced diastolic blood pressure six (b = - 2.87, p < .05) and twelve (b = -2.94, p < .01) months post-intervention. Additionally, the intervention led to an increase in team effectiveness (b = -.26, p < .05), perceived work-life support (b = -.21, p < .10), and employee-rated family supportive supervisor behavior (b = -.28, p < .05), in those who initially had weaker relationships with their supervisors (leader-member exchange, LMX). These findings indicate the effectiveness of SHIP as a TWH(R) approach for improving employee health outcomes and suggests conditions under which work-life initiatives might be most beneficial. To aid in dissemination, SHIP was amended for easy adoption by organizations. Focus groups were held with original intervention participants and stakeholders across organizational levels, as well as with potential future adopters (e.g., healthcare employees). Revisions based on focus group feedback included developing multiple options so that organizations can tailor SHIP to their unique business needs. A SHIP Toolkit including options for implementation and guidance on fully implementing the intervention are now publicly available from the Oregon Healthy Workforce Center website (https://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/oregoninstitute-occupational-health-sciences/oregon-healthy-workforcecenter/toolkit-kiosk/SHIP-Toolkit.cfm). [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological
• Keywords:
  Blood Pressure Construction Workers Employee Satisfaction Intervention Effectiveness Job Stress Occupational Health Programs Total Worker Health TWH Work-life Balance Worker Health Work Experience Work Organization

  More +
• Publisher:
  American Psychological Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Oregon ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20053907
• Citation:
  Work, Stress and Health 2017: Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities, The 12th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, June 7-10, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2017 Jun; :1-2
• Contact Point Address:
  Leslie B. Hammer, PhD, Oregon Health & Science University, Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd L606, Portland, OR 97239
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services ; Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities
• Performing Organization:
  Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20110901
• Source Full Name:
  Work, Stress and Health 2017: Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities, The 12th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health, June 7-10, 2017, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• End Date:
  20260831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f199c50d227cd50ee86041a749b6f4fd1f06878955a43a209dc0d0c7cf86f6fe0a6f638cdd359cb23f62b80782617adde70da9eef7627abc476822c9f19e3bdc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/216579/cdc_216579_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 273.42 KB ]