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Occupational health and safety disclosures in sustainability reports: An overview of trends among corporate leaders

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  • Konstantinos Evangelinos
  • Stefanos Fotiadis
  • Antonis Skouloudis
  • Nadeem Khan
  • Foteini Konstandakopoulou
  • Ioannis Nikolaou
  • Shaun Lundy

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the comprehensiveness of voluntary occupational health and safety (OHS) disclosures of large business entities. We devise a composite disclosure index, relying on well‐established performance indicators, and focus on the information found in the sustainability reports of corporations pertaining to the oil and gas, chemical, airline, and construction industries, in an attempt to shed light on the current status and emerging trends in OHS reporting from a diverse group of business entities. The findings indicate that companies tend to place emphasis on their overall management approach to OHS, but fall short in reporting quantitative and qualitative information beyond the ‘conventional’ metrics of occupational injury rates. OHS issues within the supply chain and relevant monitoring systems/mechanisms in place are topics that are underreported, while OHS training programmes are an aspect that is inadequately analyzed in quantitative terms, being the least reported indicator in the sample reports. In contrast, companies from all four industries seek assurance for the OHS information that they report and place emphasis on the externally developed management standards/initiatives that they subscribe to, support, or have adopted.

Suggested Citation

  • Konstantinos Evangelinos & Stefanos Fotiadis & Antonis Skouloudis & Nadeem Khan & Foteini Konstandakopoulou & Ioannis Nikolaou & Shaun Lundy, 2018. "Occupational health and safety disclosures in sustainability reports: An overview of trends among corporate leaders," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(5), pages 961-970, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:corsem:v:25:y:2018:i:5:p:961-970
    DOI: 10.1002/csr.1512
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    4. Jonas Steel & Lode Godderis & Jeroen Luyten, 2018. "Methodological Challenges in the Economic Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety Programmes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-12, November.
    5. Albertina Paula Monteiro & Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán & María Garrido-Ruso & Cristina Aibar-Guzmán, 2021. "Employee-Related Disclosure: A Bibliometric Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-38, May.
    6. Ana Petrina Păun & Codruţa Dura, 2018. "The Use of Statistical Parametric Tests in Order to Analyze Economic Data," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 18(2), pages 105-118.
    7. Alicia Ramírez-Orellana & María del Carmen Valls Martínez & Mayra Soledad Grasso, 2021. "Using Higher-Order Constructs to Estimate Health-Disease Status: The Effect of Health System Performance and Sustainability," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-23, May.
    8. Yujie Wang & Hong Chen & Ruyin Long & Shiyan Jiang & Bei Liu, 2022. "Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety Management of Listed Companies in China’s Energy Industry Based on the Combined Weight-Cloud Model: From the Perspective of FPE Information Disclosure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-17, July.

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