Effective Components of Behavioural Interventions Aiming to Reduce Injury within the Workplace: A Systematic Review

Abstract

For years, the connection between safety behaviours and injury and illness in high-risk industries has been recognised, but the effectiveness of this link has been somewhat overlooked. Since there is still a significant amount of injury within high-risk workplaces, this systematic review aims to examine the effectiveness of behavioural interventions to decrease fatal and non-fatal injuries within high-risk industries. Scopus and Google Scholar were used to find relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses on this topic. In total, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria. Of these articles, 11 suggested that their reviewed interventions revealed some evidence of being effective in reducing injury/accident rates. Additionally, seven of the papers found that the interventions affected certain determinants, such as safety knowledge, health and safety behaviours, attitudes, efficacy, and beliefs. One of the papers found no effect at all. It must be noted that a significant amount of the articles (n = 10) reported methodological quality or quantity issues, implying that the results should be approached with caution. Nonetheless, it was found that certain components, such as multi-faceted interventions tailored to the target group, contribute to either reducing injury/accident rates or improving the specific aforementioned determinants. There is a need for additional safety interventions in high-risk industries that are based on methodologically sound structural elements and theoretical frameworks. Existing approaches, such as Intervention Mapping, can assist safety professionals in achieving this goal.