Economic Evaluation of Interventions for Occupational Health and Safety
Developing Good Practice
Published on 21. August 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
314 pages
978-0-19-953359-6 (ISBN)
Description
Undertaking economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions can be difficult for a number of reasons. This is reflected by the significant lack of evidence on their cost-effectiveness. Particular challenges include: complex labour legislation, differences in the perception of health risks associated with work experiences amongst workplace parties and policy makers, costs and consequences being borne by different stakeholders in the system, conflicting incentives and priorities between the multiple stakeholders, lack of consensus about what ought to count as a benefit or cost of intervening or not intervening, multiple providers of indemnity and medical care coverage, and industry-specific human resources practices that make it difficult to identify all work-related illnesses and injuries. Advancement of the application of economic evaluation methods in this literature is further hindered by the fact that most methods books are designed for use in a clinical setting and cannot be easily applied to the workplaces. In the face of such barriers, it is not surprising that few studies of occupational health and safety interventions contain an economic evaluation. This book aims to lay the foundations for a systematic methodology of economic evaluation of workplace interventions, by identifying the main barriers to research of high quality and practical relevance, and proposing a research strategy to overcome them. Context chapters provide a wealth of background material ranging from a presentation of the broad conceptualization of work and health, to suggestions for strategies in confronting the dearth of data often experienced by occupational health and safety researchers. The institutional and regulatory approaches in different international jurisdictions are covered in one of the context chapters. Specific topic chapters delve into the principles and application of economic evaluation methods relevant to workplaces and system level interventions. Study design, type of analysis, costs, consequences, uncertainty, and equity are all covered, providing guidance on meeting many analytical and decision-making challenges. The final chapter synthesizes the summaries, conclusions, challenges and recommendations from across the book, presenting the synthesis as a reference case.
Reviews / Votes
This book is unique in the economic evaluation research field...It is an indispensable resource for anyone directly involved in the conduct or appraisal of economic evaluation research in health and safety * Occupational Medicine * This book presents an impressive summary of knowledge...I find [it] well-thought and organized not only for the academicians but also for the policy-makers and stakeholders (employers, managers, employee's association, etc.) * European Journal of Public Health * Extremely important and deserves careful consideration. * The RoSPA Occupational Safety and Health Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
10 black and white line illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
480 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-953359-6 (9780199533596)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Emile Tompa is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at McMaster University. He has an MBA from the University of British Columbia, an MA in Economics from the University of Toronto, and a PhD in Economics from McMaster University. Tompa's current research agenda is focused on the economic evaluation of workplace interventions and the behavioural consequences of insurance and regulatory mechanisms for occupational health and safety. In the area of economic evaluation, he has completed a systematic review of workplace intervention studies with economic analyses, and has undertaken several evaluations of participatory ergonomics interventions. In the area of insurance and regulatory mechanisms, he is undertaking research on experience rating, occupational health and safety regulation, and the adequacy and equity of workers' compensation benefits. He is the academic lead of a five-year community-university research initiative on the consequences of work injury.
Anthony Culyer has been at York since 1969 where his main roles have been as Assistant Director of the (then) Institute for Social and Economic Research, Head of the Department of Economics and Related Studies, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University. He currently holds the Ontario chair in Health Policy and System Design at the University of Toronto and is a Professor of Economics at the University of York, England. He chairs the R&D Committee of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the Policy and Editorial Committees of the Office of Health Economics, and the Research Advisory Council of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Ontario.
Roman Dolinschi holds a Master's in Economics from the University of Toronto. Dolinschi has a strong interest in the economic evaluation of occupational health and safety interventions. He has recently completed several economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions and a systematic review of workplace intervention studies with economic evaluations. Dolinschi is also actively involved in three research themes: labour-market experiences and health; the behavioural consequences of insurance and regulation in occupational health and safety; and workplace-based occupational health and safety interventions.
Anthony Culyer has been at York since 1969 where his main roles have been as Assistant Director of the (then) Institute for Social and Economic Research, Head of the Department of Economics and Related Studies, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and then Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University. He currently holds the Ontario chair in Health Policy and System Design at the University of Toronto and is a Professor of Economics at the University of York, England. He chairs the R&D Committee of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, the Policy and Editorial Committees of the Office of Health Economics, and the Research Advisory Council of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board in Ontario.
Roman Dolinschi holds a Master's in Economics from the University of Toronto. Dolinschi has a strong interest in the economic evaluation of occupational health and safety interventions. He has recently completed several economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions and a systematic review of workplace intervention studies with economic evaluations. Dolinschi is also actively involved in three research themes: labour-market experiences and health; the behavioural consequences of insurance and regulation in occupational health and safety; and workplace-based occupational health and safety interventions.
Content
1. The broad conceptualization of work and health ; 2. What is a little more health and safety worth? ; 3. A critical review of the application of economic evaluation methodologies in occupational health and safety ; 4. Lessons from health technology assessment ; 5. Lessons from the literature on valuing reductions in physical risk ; 6. The institutional and regulatory settings for occupational health and safety: an international survey ; 6b Canada ; 6c United Kingdom ; 6d Denmark ; 6e Germany ; 6f Australia ; 7. Workplace-researcher relationship: early research strategy and avoiding the 'data dearth' ; 8. Study design ; 9. Kind of analysis and decision rule ; 10. Costs ; 11. Consequences ; 12. Adjusting for time preference and addressing uncertainty ; 13. Equity in economic evaluation ; 14. Suggestions for a reference case