Health, safety and wellbeing at work

Our multidisciplinary research addresses critically important issues in work health and safety. We have an established track record of successful collaborations with many organisations. We design, conduct and report on high-quality research that addresses important practical problems. We use both quantitative and qualitative methods. Our research spans a range of work health, safety and wellbeing matters, including leading indicators of health and safety, workplace mental health, workplace health and safety inspector training, workplace health and safety inspection evaluation, workplace bullying, occupational violence and aggression, and employee wellbeing.

Our research contributes to understanding the prevalence, antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of workers’ health and safety. We have completed in-depth literature reviews on several important health and safety topics. We have extensive experience designing, delivering and reporting on employee perceptions, attitudes, behaviour and experiences studies.

We have developed and validated several measures that are now used as practical tools to assess workplace health and safety. Our studies have included evaluations of various workplace interventions to identify the most effective actions to improve health and safety. Our research is highly impactful and has numerous practical applications. Through this research, we aim to provide an evidence base to guide safe and healthy workplaces.

Our researchers

Collaborators

Our partners

We have worked with a diverse range of organisations, including WorkSafe Victoria, the Australian Retailers’ Association, the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Victoria), the Australian Education Union, the Victorian Allied Health Professionals Association, the Health and Community Services Union, and many employers and employees. Through these partnerships, we have contributed to scholarly and practical understanding of the management of work health,safety and wellbeing.

Featured publications

• De Cieri, H., and Lazarova, M. (2021), “Your health and safety is of utmost importance to us”: A review of research on the occupational health and safety of international employees. Human Resource Management Review, 31, 100790. This article was named the HRMR Outstanding Scholarly Article Award for 2021.
• Shea, T., De Cieri, H., Vu, T., and Pettit, T. (2021). How is safety climate measured? A review and evaluation. Safety Science, 143, 105413.
• De Cieri, H., Shea, T., Cooper, B., and Oldenburg, B. (2019). Effects of work-related stressors and mindfulness on mental and physical health among Australian nurses and healthcare workers, Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 51(5), 580-589.
• De Cieri, H., Sheehan, C., Donohue, R., Shea, T., and Cooper, B. (2019), Power and perpetrators:  An investigation of workplace bullying experienced by nursing and healthcare professionals, Personnel Review, 48(2), 324-341.
• Newman, A., Donohue, R., Eva, N. (2017). Psychological safety: A systematic review of the literature. Human Resource Management Review, 27, 521-535.
• Shea, T., De Cieri, H. Donohue, R., Cooper, B., and Sheehan, C. (2016), Leading indicators of occupational health and safety: an employee and workplace level validation study. Safety Science, 85, 292-304.
• Sheehan, C., Donohue, R., Shea, T., Cooper, B., and De Cieri, H. (2016). Leading and lagging indicators of occupational health and safety: The moderating role of safety leadership. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 92, 130-138.

Ongoing projects

• Occupational violence and aggression: Our current research projects contribute to the evidence base of the prevalence and nature of work-related violence and work-related gendered violence experienced by healthcare workers in Victoria.
• Creating healthy and safe workplaces: Our research identifies and measures the leading indicators of health and safety – the factors that prevent work-related injury or illness and the factors that contribute to healthy and safe workplaces. Research evidence shows that several factors are important: a systems approach; access to reliable and valid metrics and data; engagement of leaders; and practical and effective interventions to improve health and safety outcomes.
• Evaluation of OHS inspector training and professional development: We are conducting a five-year project evaluating the induction/orientation training, mentoring and ongoing professional development delivered to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) inspectors from a state government regulator. In particular, this project examines how training, mentoring and professional development programs provided to OHS inspectors impact their job crafting, career adaptability, assertiveness, influencing skills and psychological capital. Project findings will inform the content and processes used in training and development initiatives provided to OHS inspectors, resulting in increased capabilities within the inspectorate and ultimately helping keep workers healthy and safe.
• The wellbeing of architects: We are currently conducting a three-year study – funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Projects scheme – that aims to be one of the first major studies to examine how workplace cultures and professional identity affect wellbeing in architecture. This project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers at RMIT and Monash University’s Department of Architecture and the Department of Management. The findings of this study intend to lay the foundations for practical improvements to wellbeing in the architecture profession in the future through the development of resources and toolkits.

Watch, listen, read

• Caligiuri, P. & De Cieri, H. Four ways companies can support their workers during the coronavirus crisis. The Conversation (US edition). The article was translated into Japanese and reprinted as the cover story in Newsweek Japan (Aug 18 2020).
• Stead, N., Kinnaird, B., & Shea, T. (25 October 2021). Wellbeing of Architects – findings so far.