This research investigates the risk-factors associated with workplace accidents by analysing data generated by Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), a framework in which the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) collects reports of workplace accidents and injuries. It is reported by the HSE that work-related accidents are a significant problem facing today's workforce. Unfortunately, however, occupational health and safety have largely been under researched. Little work has previously been carried out surrounding the key determinants of workplace accidents, how these determinants might vary geographically, and whether physical conditions, such as the weather and levels of daylight, might impact levels of occupational health and safety. This research therefore seeks to address these gaps by examining the socio-economic and physical determinants of workplace accidents and injuries, and examines whether the relationships between these risk-factors and accident rates vary geographically and seasonally. Three distinct methods are utilised in analysing the RIDDOR data. These methods include: a global regression analysis based on a set of socio-economic characteristics of workers, a Geographically Weighted Regression analysis of these characteristics on three case study regions: North West England, North East England and London, and text mining, in the form of topic modelling the free-text fields of descriptions of incidents reported under RIDDOR. The key results reveal that age and socio-economic class are influencing factors of workplace accidents. Occupation type is also found to have an effect on workplace accident risk, with workers in low skilled jobs associated with an increased risk of having a work-related injury compared to workers in highly skilled occupations. The relationships between these risk-factors and accident rates have been found to vary geographically, with risk-factors appearing to have a stronger relationship with workplace accidents in particular seasons compared to others. Policy recommendations are formulated to equip the HSE with the knowledge of the key high-risk groups within the workplace population so that preventative measures can be established to reduce the rates of workplace accidents in the future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:722128 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Woods, Linda |
| Contributors | Lloyd, C. D. |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3008159/ |
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