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IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies                 Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations          Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor                  Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016                      Director, IWS News Bureau
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From the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

Issue 211 - Quality of the working environment and productivity (working paper)
17/09/2004

Quality of the working environment and productivity:
Research findings and case studies [17 September 2004]
Prepared by the Topic Centre on Research — Work and Health
Marc De Greef, Prevent, Belgium
Karla Van den Broek, Prevent, Belgium
http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/reports/211/en/Quality_Productivity.PDF
[full-text, 82 pages]

Executive Summary:
The purpose of this working paper is to look at the link between a good working environment
and productivity. A better understanding of positive effects of a good working environment
would support the implementation of effective health and safety policy at company level. It
would complement the set of rules and regulations with a significant parameter that is directly
linked to the intrinsic motivation of a company. Companies need to be convinced that making
OSH objectives their own and integrating them into their own company objectives is worth the
effort.

This working paper attempts to make a contribution to these issues. Especially, it aims to:

• explore the research findings on the relationship between a good working environment and
company productivity;
• exchange good practice examples at company level among Member States; and
• contribute to the discussion on the relationship between a good working environment and
company productivity by providing new perspectives.

However, the economic approach to health and safety at company level cannot replace the
value of the human requirements. Health and safety is part of the social and ethical role of a
company. A company policy cannot only be based on economic parameters. It is difficult or even
impossible to evaluate qualitative costs such as suffering, reduction in the quality of life, family
problems, decrease of lifespan, and so on, in monetary terms.

The Community strategy on health and safety at work, 2002­06, of the European Commission
states that it is necessary to set up initiatives to ‘develop knowledge of, and to follow-up the
“cost of non-quality”, i.e. the economic and social costs arising from occupational accidents and
illnesses. The Commission will, in conjunction with the Bilbao Agency, instigate work on
collecting data and other information with a view to improving the fund of knowledge on this
subject.

Furthermore, the Commission strategy indicates that ‘a safe and healthy working environment
and working organisation are performance factors for the economy and for companies.’
This working paper is one of the publications on this topic published by the European Agency
for Safety and Health at Work.


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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                 *
Director, IWS News Bureau               *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School                      *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor            *
New York, NY 10016                      *
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Telephone: (607) 255-2703               *
Fax: (607) 255-9641                     *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                *
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