'Flexible' Work Practices and Occupational Safety and Health: Exploring the Relationship between Cumulative Trauma Disorders and Workplace Transformation

Abstract

This paper matches establishment-level data on workplace transformation (e.g., quality circles, work teams, and just-in-time production) with measures of cumulative trauma disorders at these same establishments to explore the relationship between 'flexible' workplace practices and workplace health and safety. The results reveal a positive, statistically significant, and quantitatively sizeable relationship between cumulative trauma disorders and the use of quality circles and just-in-time production.