Psychological Health Risks for Workers in Italy
Health and safety at work has been one of the most important topics in the European Union’s social policy agenda for several years now. In particular stress has been recognised as the main emerging work-related health problem. Causes are hardly ever limited to one single reason or factor in the work...
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| Publicat a: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/eps, |
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| Autors principals: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Publicat: |
Espace populations sociétés
2011
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| Matèries: | |
| Accés en línia: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Sumari: | Health and safety at work has been one of the most important topics in the European Union’s social policy agenda for several years now. In particular stress has been recognised as the main emerging work-related health problem. Causes are hardly ever limited to one single reason or factor in the workplace. An ad hoc module focussing on workplace health and safety was integrated in the Labour Force Survey of 2007. This module collects a range of information including, among others, the presence of work-related illnesses and exposure to risk factors that can adversely affect workers’ health. Using data from this module, this paper presents results of a descriptive analysis which indicate that a significant portion of Italian workers are affected by work-related stress. Work-related stress is associated with exposure to psychological risk factors such as time pressure and overload of work, harassment, bullying and discrimination, violence and threats of violence in the work environment. This is further supported by results of logistic regression models indicating significant associations between work-related stress and work characteristics (professional position, economic activity, duration of contract, evening and night work, etc.) and exposure to psychological risk factors, independent of workers’ demographic backgrounds (gender, geographic area, age and education). These results show that workers reporting being exposed to risk factors are also more likely to report health problems as a result of work-related stress. Workers who are subjected to time pressure or overload of work suffer from stress-related illness five times more compared those who are not. Workers declaring harassment, bullying or discrimination problems are four times more likely to report health problems whereas workers reporting violence or threats of violence are twice as likely to suffer from stress-related health problems compared to those who do not experience these phenomena. |
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