Research grants awarded

In 2011, we issued two calls for bids. The first, through our annual competition, asked for research proposals that identified distinctive evidence-based actions designed to enhance the benefits and reduce the risks of harm at work, and to measure their effectiveness. The second call, through our research programme, centred on health and safety in a changing world. Specifically it invited proposals on occupational safety and health (OSH) knowledge and its management, the balance between public and private sources of regulation and the local impact of the changing health and safety system.

During this year, we've committed around £0.92 million to six projects:

Annual competition

Institution: University of Derby
Project leader: Dr Claire Williams
Title: Investigating the impact of behaviour change techniques on break taking behaviour at work
Start date: December 2011
End date: August 2013

This project will take a mixed methods approach to investigating break taking behaviour at work, within a constrained office-type environment. A field study will be undertaken which records data about how regularly staff get up from their desks before and after behaviour change interventions. This quantitative data will be supported with focus group data, which explores the attitudes and motivations underpinning the break taking behaviours.

Institution: University of Southampton
Project leader: Professor Keith Palmer
Title: The role of health problems and medication in accidental injury at work: A population-based case-control study using the General Practice Research Database
Start date: April 2012
End date: August 2013

This project will carry out a detailed analysis on the relationship between health problems and risk of accidental injury at work. Using the General Practice Research Database, the study will explore the association of accidental injury with illness and prescribed medication. If found the associations will be characterised and risks assessed in terms of different time windows of exposure prior to injury. Any attributable proportion of injuries will also be assessed.

Institution: University of Nottingham
Project leader: Dr Jonathan Houdmont
Title: Evaluation of a sun safety training intervention for the British construction sector
Start date: February 2012
End date: January 2014

This project will investigate how effective, in terms of outcomes and processes, is a sector-specific intervention designed to increase knowledge of the risks of solar radiation exposure and encourage healthy sun safety attitudes and behaviours among construction workers in Britain.

Research programme

Institution: The Institute of Occupational Medicine
Project leader: Dr Joanne Crawford
Title: Occupational safety and health knowledge and its management
Start date: September 2011
End date: January 2014

This project involves mapping the OSH landscape in the UK and identifying relevant routes for knowledge transfer. The study will include prospective and retrospective case studies of companies going through OSH change and explore how knowledge is disseminated within the company and the effectiveness of such transfers.

Institution: Loughborough University
Project leader: Professor Alistair Gibb
Title: Management of OSH in Networked Systems of Production or Service Delivery: Comparisons between Healthcare, Construction and Logistics
Start date: November 2011
End date: October 2014

This study aims to identify what types of OSH knowledge and evidence circulate and work in relation to each other in organisations involved in networked delivery systems, how local actors in organisations interpret information and, in turn, the influences on OSH.

Institution: Institute of Work, Health and Organisations; University of Nottingham
Project leader: Dr Stavroula Leka
Title: The changing landscape of OSH regulation in the UK: Achieving the right balance in policy and practice
Start date: November 2011
End date: October 2013

This project seeks to map the changing landscape of OSH regulation in the UK with a view to identify how the right balance between public and private initiatives can be achieved at the policy and practice levels. The study includes an investigation into the sources of authority in the changing OSH landscape or ‘risk landscape’ in the UK and whether the different actors involved are granted space to devise locally relevant strategies for achieving OSH goals.