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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the dimensions that distinguish high from low performing manufacturing companies in Great Britain with respect to controlling noise. The findings should assist regulators and industry to develop interventions that help organisations to effectively manage noise, particularly amongst the low performers.

The research uses quantitative and qualitative methods. Survey data was obtained from 215 manufacturers and supplemented with 15 qualitative interviews to assess performance and individual, social, environmental and organisational influences on duty holders' decision making for controlling noise.

Relative to low performers, decision makers from high performing companies had: greater in-depth knowledge of noise risks and controls; taken steps to promote positive health and safety attitudes and values; were large companies; and faced fewer resource barriers (time, costs, staffing). Managers in small, low performing companies sought simple interventions with a practical focus.

The differences reported between high and low performing companies showed a small magnitude of effect but these are considered significant in a health and safety context.

Improvements in training and education, and addressing workplace health and safety culture, are recommended as offering most potential to raise the standard of noise control.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to systematically assess the specific knowledge, attitudes, values and beliefs that employers hold about noise and the influence of social, environmental and organisational factors on manager’s decisions about noise controls.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an original model of stress and coping as a complex interactive process between an individual and his or her environment.

A preliminary test of the model is conducted using data from a meta-analysis of perceived occupational stress among police officers. Collapsing correlates into predictor domains that mirror the proposed model of stress and coping allowed for a preliminary analysis of some of the constructs in the proposed model.

The findings suggest that each domain contributes to the perception of stress and that knowledge in this area might best be advanced by recognizing the importance of each in shaping an interactive process of stress and coping rather than attempting to rank individual correlates.

The data do not provide definitive conclusions that personal characteristics or job characteristics, for example, are more important than others in shaping stress perception among police officers. Clearly, these findings suggest that questions about what is most important in shaping police stress have remained unanswered because the variables of interest make equally important contributions to a complex process.

Adopting the proposed integrative model of stress and coping may help researchers move beyond the flawed conceptualization of perceived stress among police officers as a simple operational/organizational dichotomy, allowing for a more rich understanding of stress and coping as a complex process.

The current study takes stock of the research on perceived stress among police officers by quantitatively synthesizing the available empirical literature on the subject.

In all, 103 studies from both published and unpublished sources are meta‐analyzed, producing 338 individual effect size estimates.

Analysis of predictor domains reveals that most make equally modest contributions to the complex process of stress and coping.

Inconsistency in selection and measurement across studies precludes meaningful comparison and analysis of individual correlates of perceived stress, emphasizing the need for more standardization in the research. Particular attention to theoretically driven selection of variables, reliability of measurement instruments, and a higher degree of rigor in methodological quality, generally, will allow for more confidence in the body of empirical work.

This study is the first attempt to systematically synthesize over 40 years of empirical research in the area of perceived stress among police officers. The systematic documentation of gaps and inconsistencies in the literature provide direction for future research in this popular field of study.

The purpose of this paper is to identify key enablers and challenges in the implementation of a comprehensive approach to the management of employee well‐being.

A large organization which had implemented such an approach was chosen as a case study. Company documents and data regarding the corporate well‐being strategy were analysed, informing the content of the approach. Interviews with implementers and managers were conducted to identify how it was done.

The focal organization had several health management systems capable of addressing the requirements for employee well‐being management. These included occupational safety and health, health promotion, management of ill‐health and human resource management. Key enablers identified were strong senior leadership support, dedicated resources, involvement of stakeholders and intensive communication. Challenges revolved around the integration of these systems into a coherent whole, striking a balance between a focus on occupational risks and lifestyle risks; readiness of managers to bring attention to the concept of employees’ well‐being and their ability to monitor employees’ health‐related needs. Together with a target‐driven work culture, these challenges worked against promoting well‐being.

This case study is exploratory. Further research needs to gather direct views of both managers and employees on how the well‐being approach had been received. Explanatory research models that integrate health promotion and work management systems to better inform implementation strategy and the roles of managers are needed.

The paper shows that line managers need to make greater use of regular management processes such as work planning, formal and informal interactions, and resourcing, to monitor employees’ well‐being needs. They also need to continually self‐assess how their own leadership style may affect employee well‐being.

In 1920 Margaret Sanger called voluntary motherhood “the key to the temple of liberty” and noted that women were “rising in fundamental revolt” to claim their right to determine their own reproductive fate (Rothman, 2000, p. 73). Decades later Barbara Katz Rothman reflected on the social, political and legal changes produced by reproductive-rights feminists since that time. She wrote: So the reproductive-rights feminists of the 1970s won, and abortion is available – just as the reproductive-rights feminists of the 1920s won, and contraception is available. But in another sense, we did not win. We did not win, could not win, because Sanger was right. What we really wanted was the fundamental revolt, the “key to the temple of liberty.” A doctor’s fitting for a diaphragm, or a clinic appointment for an abortion, is not the revolution. It is not even a woman-centered approach to reproduction (2000, p. 79).