TY - JOUR
T1 - Website survey method for assessing higher education employee health and safety programs
AU - Malomet, Maayan S.
AU - Harber, Philip
N1 - Funding Information:
A healthy and motivated workforce is important in higher education. Universities and colleges are inherently stressful places to work.11–13 Ambiguity about access to occupational health services may contribute to workplace stress. Educational institutions are particularly likely to expose both faculty and staff employees to unique organizational stressors. Role ambiguity is frequent; for example, is a faculty member’s primary role to do research or to teach? In many companies, the goal is to optimize financial performance, whereas this important aspect often receives little attention in educational programs. Stability of employment is also suboptimal, particularly for untenured faculty members and staff members supported by research grants, which typically have a 3-year life cycle. They may be particularly subject to stressors related to effort-reward imbalance14 because of the income disparities in comparison to other industries. Relationship structures among faculty, staff, and students are often ambiguous. Finally, and most importantly, the quality of the educational experience is very much determined by the perceptions of the faculty and staff members. Despite these problems, person-oriented services such as psychology support, physical/occupational therapy, and stress management programs were much less frequently available than were hazard oriented programs.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/2
Y1 - 2021/2
N2 - Objective: The higher education industry in the United States is large (almost four million employees and 19 million students) with diverse hazards. Methods: We apply a novel health services research approach to systematically assess a sample of 55 institutional websites. The accessibility, content, and coverage of occupational health/safety program information were systematically coded for several domains (eg, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-related, specific hazards, clinical, personoriented, COVID-19, and coverage). Results: Information was more available for programs related to OSHA mandates (eg, chemical hygiene) and specific hazards than for person-oriented programs (eg, counseling). Larger institutions provide better information and more comprehensive programs than smaller institutions. Conclusions: Higher education institutions warrant increasing attention to occupational health and safety, particularly as COVID-19 increased attention to workplace health issues.
AB - Objective: The higher education industry in the United States is large (almost four million employees and 19 million students) with diverse hazards. Methods: We apply a novel health services research approach to systematically assess a sample of 55 institutional websites. The accessibility, content, and coverage of occupational health/safety program information were systematically coded for several domains (eg, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-related, specific hazards, clinical, personoriented, COVID-19, and coverage). Results: Information was more available for programs related to OSHA mandates (eg, chemical hygiene) and specific hazards than for person-oriented programs (eg, counseling). Larger institutions provide better information and more comprehensive programs than smaller institutions. Conclusions: Higher education institutions warrant increasing attention to occupational health and safety, particularly as COVID-19 increased attention to workplace health issues.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Health services research
KW - Occupational safety and health
KW - Postsecondary education
KW - Web methods
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102090633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85102090633&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002091
DO - 10.1097/JOM.0000000000002091
M3 - Article
C2 - 33229907
AN - SCOPUS:85102090633
SN - 1076-2752
VL - 63
SP - 119
EP - 125
JO - Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
JF - Journal of occupational and environmental medicine
IS - 2
ER -