Integrating Occupational Health and Safety and Health Promotion: A Qualitative Study in Australia

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health and Safety
• Workplace Health Promotion
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Growing evidence supports integrating occupational health and safety (OHS) and workplace health promotion (WHP) to enhance worker health, safety, and wellbeing.
• However, the implementation and contextual factors of integrated OHS-WHP approaches in Australia remain underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the reasons for implementing OHS and WHP separately or concurrently/jointly in Australia.
• To identify potential preferences and implementation contexts for integrated OHS-WHP approaches.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative study involving focus groups (n=3) and individual interviews (n=40) with 47 OHS professionals, health promotion (HP) professionals, occupational health professionals, and employers in Australia.
• Data were collected between October 2024 and March 2025.
• A thematic inductive analysis was employed.

Main Results:

• Professionals exhibit knowledge gaps, with OHS professionals showing limited understanding of WHP and HP professionals struggling with OHS terminology.
• Inadequate integration is linked to scarce WHP implementation, unclear benefits, poor evaluation, and departmental siloing.
• Integration trends, influenced by factors like COVID-19, are more successful in large organizations but face employer support variations.

Conclusions:

• Limited implementation of integrated OHS-WHP in Australia is attributed to policy gaps, professional knowledge deficits, and WHP implementation/evaluation concerns.
• Urgent educational initiatives for employers and OHS professionals are needed to promote holistic worker wellbeing and systems thinking in WHP.