Health and Safety Executive Management Standards: associations with operational effectiveness in policing

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Organizational Psychology
• Risk Management

Background:

• The UK Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards address psychosocial working conditions.
• Despite their introduction two decades ago, universal adoption across UK organizations is lacking.
• Limited evidence on operational effectiveness benefits may hinder implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide evidence on the business benefits of the Management Standards.
• To examine the association between achieving quality standards and operational effectiveness indices.

Main Methods:

• 1493 police custody sergeants completed the Management Standards Indicator Tool.
• Measures of operational effectiveness included job performance, attendance, and intention to leave.
• Logistic regression analyzed the relationship between quality standard achievement and operational effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Fulfillment of quality standards varied by domain, from 3% (change) to 65% (role).
• Achieving quality standards was associated with increased odds of desirable operational effectiveness outcomes.

Conclusions:

• A preventative approach to managing workplace psychosocial risk offers operational effectiveness benefits.
• Findings may encourage organizations to adopt Management Standards or equivalent strategies.
• Adoption supports fulfilling legal duties in psychosocial risk management.