Competency Priorities for Workers’ Representatives in Occupational Safety and Health: An Organizational Perspective on Employee Participation

Employee participation in occupational safety and health depends partly on workers’ representatives, who connect employee concerns with organizational decision-making and preventive action. However, the competencies supporting this formal representative role have received limited attention in organization and management research. Building on earlier qualitative and participatory work that identified 33 competency components and included a preliminary questionnaire to review these components, this study examines the perceived importance of the full set of competencies in a broader sample of Hungarian OSH professionals. An online questionnaire using a five-point importance scale yielded 104 valid responses. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the perceived importance of the previously identified competency components. The highest-rated competencies included knowledge of occupational representation and consultation, familiarity with the workplace, knowledge of the employer’s OSH organization and work processes, adherence to rules, communication, problem-solving, and situational awareness. The findings provide a broader professional appraisal of perceived competency priorities and may inform training, workplace orientation, and organizational support for meaningful employee participation in OSH. Although this research is based on a Hungarian sample, the findings may also inform further research into the competencies that support workers’ representation in OSH in other national contexts.