ESENER-2 Methodology

Universe and unit of analysis

The statistical population comprises all establishments that have five or more employees in the 36 participating countries, covering all sectors of economic activity except for private households (NACE T) and extraterritorial organisations (NACE U). The relevant statistical unit of analysis is the establishment, defined as comprising the activities of a single employer at a single set of premises (e.g. a single branch of a bank, a car factory or a school).

The 36 participating countries comprise all 28 European Member States, as well as six Candidate Countries (Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey), and two EFTA countries (Norway and Switzerland).

Respondents

In each establishment surveyed, the person who knows best about the way safety and health risks are managed at their workplace is interviewed. This is different from ESENER-1 where “the most senior manager who coordinates safety and health activities in this establishment" was targeted. The main reason for the change was to get to the person who has the best knowledge about all health and safety issues, including details on risk assessment and other particular measures, regardless of their function or role in the establishment –which is asked anyway in a follow-up question. Also, it was expected that non-response would decrease by avoiding the more restrictive definition of the respondent applied in the ESENER-1 Methodology.

Sampling strategy

In order to ensure that the survey results are cross-nationally comparable, it is essential that the sampling strategy result in the same type of units being surveyed in each country. The quality of the available address registers varies across the participating countries in terms of coverage (especially the sectors of activity included) and in terms of the availability and accuracy of the necessary background information (such as the sector of activity and number of employees). Existing address registers are not comparable cross-nationally, therefore considerable efforts have been made to build samples that provide the necessary quality and ensure cross-national comparability. These efforts have required a screening procedure in those countries where the available address registers provide information at company rather than at establishment level.

Stratification of the sample is based on a matrix of four size classes and seven groups of sectors. This 28-cell sampling matrix was used in all countries except for the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom with its large sample boost, samples were drawn on base of a 100-cell matrix consisting of 25 sector differentiations and 4 size-classes which was also used to steer the sample in the fieldwork period.

ESENER-2 Sampling matrix

Questionnaire development

The ESENER-2 questionnaire is based on the management version of the ESENER-1 questionnaire but almost all questions have been modified. The development of the ESENER-2 questionnaire was done in close cooperation between EU-OSHA, the main ESENER-2 contractor and a group of researchers on occupational health and safety from Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands.

The questionnaire has been subject to several tests:

1. A cognitive pre-test in Germany, Latvia and the Netherlands, with a total of 40 in-depth face-to-face interviews. The main aim was to check the understanding and clarity of the questions. There were also a number of cognitive questions aimed at testing whether the standardized questions were interpreted in the intended way by respondents from different countries and different types of organisations and whether they were relevant to them. The cognitive test led to a number of modifications to the questionnaire.
2. A translatability assessment of the English master questionnaire version. Experienced translators from four different language families elaborated rough translations of the draft master questionnaire in order to identify any ambiguities or other difficulties for translation. Where such difficulties were identified translators made proposals for alternative formulations for the master version, which was revised accordingly.
3. A pilot field test was carried out in all 36 countries, with 50 to 70 interviews per country. This pilot test was done in the CATI mode and used the same infrastructure as the main survey. The pilot field test resulted in a number of changes to the master questionnaire and to the individual national versions of the questionnaire.

Translation

47 different national versions of the questionnaire have been developed for the countries covered by the survey (access the questionnaires in the table below). For languages shared by two or more countries, different national versions have been developed that take into account work-related practices such as worker representation or labour inspection, which require different questions and terminology. More details on the translation process can be found in the Translation Report –see below.

An optimal translation strategy is essential to ensure that each national version of the questionnaire comprises high-quality questions that can be directed at all types of enterprise within the country concerned and generates information that can be compared cross-nationally.

The basic steps included in the translation strategy adopted in ESENER-2 are:

1. Two independent translations into each of the languages carried out by professional translators -native speakers of the target language- who were not in contact with each other while producing their translation.
2. Review of the independent translations by an adjudicator, who drafted a new version.
3. Review meetings between the adjudicator and the two translators in order to jointly discuss the new draft and agree on a final adjudicated version.
4. Check of the adjudicated versions by EU-OSHA’s network of Focal Points, with a specific focus on the national OSH terminology, including the questions related to bodies of employee representation.

Sample sizes and questionnaire language versions

Documents

Tender specifications

EU-OSHA published tender specifications^[1] to carry out the ESENER-2 survey as part of an open call on 5th December 2012.

Support letter

Letters setting out the background and aims of the survey and the support from social partners were produced in all survey languages with the aim to encouraging participation in the survey.

Technical report

• ESENER-2 Technical Report: Main report and executive summary^[2]
• ESENER-2 Quality Report^[3]
• ESENER-2 Translation report^[4]