Effects of the Labour Inspectorate Authority’s regulatory tools on psychosocial and biomechanical work factors in Norwegian home care services: A cluster randomised controlled trial

Objectives This study aimed to determine the effects
of the Labour Inspectorate Authority’s (LIA’s) regulatory
tools on psychosocial and biomechanical work factors in
the Norwegian municipal home care services.
Methods A cluster-randomised
controlled trial
conducted in the home care services with employee
questionnaire data on work factors at baseline, and
6 and 12 months after the interventions. In total, 96
eligible municipalities were randomly assigned to
either the control group or one of two interventions:
(1) labour inspection visits, based on the LIA’s standard
inspections; and (2) guidance-through-
workshops,
where
the participating services highlighted issues and trained
labour inspectors provided guidance based on existing
labour laws and regulations.
Results No favourable intervention effect was observed
for the inspection intervention. No effects were observed
for most of the variables in the guidance intervention,
although an effect was observed for the following
psychosocial factors: decision control, control over work
intensity and empowering leadership. However, after
adjusting for multiple testing, none of the observed
effects were statistically significant.
Conclusion Labour inspections did not affect
psychosocial and biomechanical work factors in the
home care services. A favourable effect of the guidance
intervention on psychosocial work factors was observed.
However, this was not evident after [...]