Understanding regulatory workplace safety inspections in British Columbia, Canada : theory and evaluation
department or school: Medicine, Faculty of
department or school: Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: McLeod, Kim Vanessa
issued: 2019-11-28T16:53:55Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The impact of regulatory inspections of workplace safety on injury rates in British Columbia (BC), Canada is examined in this dissertation. Previous studies of the effect of inspections relied on theoretical frameworks that were non-existent, overly simplified, or reliant on economics and rational choice theory while neglecting the contributions of academic disciplines such as organizational theory. In Chapter 2, the theories of the elements of a successful inspection are examined and incorporated into a framework to understand how inspections may or may not work to reduce injury rates. Results of studies of inspections differ by jurisdiction, and even among studies within the same state, the effectiveness appears to change over time. The details of the regulatory systems provided in published articles are generally limited, making it difficult to discern which differences between the jurisdictions may explain the varied results. In Chapter 3, studies of inspections in California, Washington, and Pennsylvania are examined in detail and publicly available data from safety inspections in those states are summarized. Combining the information from the studies and the results of that analysis, it was found that inspections with penalties may be effective in reducing injury rates, and inspections without penalties were not found to be effective. In British Columbia, penalties arising from inspections are rare, so inspections in general are not likely to be effective at reducing injuries. Chapter 4 is focused on finding the best method to analyze data from WorkSafeBC (The Workers Compensation Board of BC) to determine if inspections are linked to a decline in injury rates. Statistical methods used in previous studies of inspections and injuries and other analysis methods were examined. It was determined that either difference-in-differences analysis with coarsened exact matching or fixed effects analysis with or without matching would be appropriate. The dissertation conc…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/72460
note: UNDERSTANDING REGULATORY WORKPLACE SAFETY INSPECTIONS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA: THEORY AND EVALUATION by KIM VANESSA MCLEOD B.Sc., University of Alberta, 2000 J.D., University of British Columbia, 2005 M.Sc., University of British Columbia, 2009 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Occupational and Environmental Hygiene) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) November 2019 © Kim Vanessa McLeod, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Understanding Regulatory Workplace Safety Inspections in British Columbia, Canada: Theory and Evaluation submitted by Kim McLeod in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. Examining Committee: Chris McLeod, Population and Public Health Co-supervisor Hugh Davies, Population and Public Health Co-supervisor Benjamin Amick, Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University Supervisory Committee Member Mike Law, School of Population and Public Health University Examiner Mark Thompson, Sauder School of Business University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Member: Mieke Koehoorn, Population and Public Health Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract The impact of regulatory inspections of workplace safety on injury rates in British Columbia (BC), Canada is examined in this dissertation. Previous studies of the effect of inspections relied on theoretical frameworks that were non-existent, overly simplified, or reliant on economics and rational choice theory while neglecting the contributions of academic disciplines such as organizational theory. In Chapter 2, the theories of the elements of a successful inspection are examined and incorporated into a framework to understand how insp…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0386024
language: eng
degree discipline: Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72460