Linking decent work-derived general health well-being and workers' participation in health care practices: a SEM-LOGIT model on brickfield, West Bengal

Purpose This paper aims at making modest attempts to find out the relationship between (1) workplace decent work environmental components and workers' general health well-being and (2) decent work-derived general health well-being of the workers and their chance of participating in occupational health care practice at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach The present cross-sectional study purposively chose the brickfield manufacturing sector of the Bankura and Hooghly districts of West Bengal, where 210 individuals of 12 units were selected randomly for the primary survey. The questionnaire was designed on the established scale of “The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Worker Well-Being Questionnaire” (NIOSH WellBQ, 2021). For analysis, the study applied Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) through SPSS-AMOS (Version 23) and Binary Logistic Regression in two steps. Findings The study detected that the brickfield workers responded maximum in favour of safety equipment at the workplace to ensure their general health well-being. Further, it traced out a 21% change in workers' general health well-being due to a 1% change in “workplace safety measures”. In this regard, workers' participation in occupational health care practice at the enterprise found a relationship with their general health well-being, derived from workplace health-hygiene practice, a component of decent work. Research limitations/implications The study has found its limitation due to the intervention of the employers in employees' responses, for which it cannot avoid subjectivity. Additionally, the restricted number of samples with additional focus on only one sector due to time and resource constraints, though considered as representative, is also considered as another limitation of the study. Practical implications The study evidences its significance in front of the policymakers, lawmakers, entrepreneurs and academicians to access the voice of the workforce community facing occupational risks and hazards. Moreover, it is based on primary micro-empirical analysis, which seems very effective in framing any theoretical structure. Social implications The study may assist in identifying, preventing and reducing indecent work environment associated with health-related risks in the workplace and also in providing proper insight into the major components of the workplace related to general health well-being at the workplace. Originality/value The present study confirms a unique attempt to explore the relationship between decent work-derived general health well-being and workers' participation in health-hygiene practice at enterprises where brickfield manufacturing units of the two districts of West Bengal, i.e. Bankura and Hooghly, were taken for a microempirical cross-sectional study.