Occupational Health Management and Healthy Workplace in Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities

Dear Colleagues,

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the process of globalization in the economy has been accelerating in the past few years. Moreover, the advent of new information and telecommunications technologies has brought about significant transformations in society, which can be likened to the changes witnessed during the Industrial Revolution, to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The SDGs have stimulated the creation of sustainability reporting standards and fuelled the incorporation of the SDGs into the decision-making and transparency practices of various organizations, including companies, local and state governments, and other entities. One of the key objectives of these endeavours is to establish a healthy work environment that is conducive to employee health and well-being.

According to the WHO's healthy workplace model, a healthy workplace is characterized by a collaborative approach between managers and employees, using a continuous improvement process, to safeguard and enhance the health, safety, and well-being of all workers, while ensuring the long-term sustainability of the work environment. It includes (1) health and safety concerns of the physical work environment; (2) health, safety, and well-being concerns in the psychosocial work environment, including work organization and workplace culture; (3) personal health resources in the workplace (support and encouragement of healthy lifestyles by the employer); and (4) ways of participating in the community to improve the health of workers, their families, and members of the community.

The changes brought about by globalization and new technologies have important implications for occupational safety and health (OSH). To address these implications, countries must transform the challenges of adapting to this new reality into opportunities for future OSH development.

These challenges include: (1) numerous industrialized countries are facing the challenges of an ageing population and workforce; (2) recruiting appropriately qualified and experienced OH professionals; (3) changes in national healthcare systems due to public health challenges such as the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases and ageing populations; and (4) encouraging people to remain in the workforce for an extended period, which requires an emphasis on aligning work tasks with an individual's changing capabilities throughout their life span.

Given the above, the main objective of this Special Issue is to raise awareness, conduct research and education, disseminate best practices, and influence policy-making in the field of work organization and psychosocial factors. Another aim is to explore innovative techniques and approaches for enhancing the effectiveness of OSH management by integrating public health principles with business management practices.

We strongly encourage the submission of high-quality manuscripts that can help bridge the research gaps outlined above.

Dr. Tianan Yang
Dr. Jianwei Deng
Dr. Ran Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• work organisation
• psychosocial factors
• ageing
• healthy workplace