A dual-purpose knowledge mobilization laboratory: exploring interactions and processes for mobilizing research in occupational health and safety practices

Research institutions produce a substantial amount of scientific research every year hoping to stimulate improvements to worker’s health and safety. Despite of a large research output, the rate of OHS research knowledge that ultimately impact worker’s health and safety is low (Dugan and Punnett, 2017, Schulte et al., 2017, Guerin et al., 2022). Challenges relate to all activities in the knowledge translation chain, from access to knowledge over assessment and adaptation to application (Kothari et al., 2009), as well as to the practical relevance (Proctor et al., 2011). Challenges in bridging OHS research and workplace practice reduce the potentials of OHS research to improve worker’s health and safety, with implications for sick leave and work longevity. In Europe and North America, policy makers and research funding agencies place increased weight on the use and impact of OHS research knowledge at workplaces (Lavis et al., 2003, Pedersen, 2017, CIFHR, 2012). Extant research emphasizes the need for more knowledge about dissemination and uptake of evidence-based OHS practices in policy and practice (Guerin et al., 2022). A wide selection of models and frameworks have been developed to theorize how this might happen (Graham et al., 2006, Cunningham et al., 2020, Van Eerd, 2019, Schulte et al., 2017, Guerin et al., 2022). There is, however, a need to generate insight in how the process of mobilizing research knowledge to practical application look in practice (Cunningham et al., 2020). Spaapen and Van Drooge’s (2011) notion of productive interactions argue that insight into the process of making evidence-based research work for workplaces at ground-level is valuable to understand the social impact of research (Spaapen and van Drooge, 2011).