Ergonomic stress levels, personal characteristics, accident occurrence and sickness absence among factory workers.
This study was designed to evaluate the association of a single, integrated measure of simultaneous exposure to a number of adverse work and environmental conditions, termed the Ergonomic Stress Level (E-S-L), on workers' accident and sickness absence rates. The factors determining the E-S-L were body motion and posture, physical effort, active hazards and environmental stressors. E-S-L evaluation was based on 'walk-through' hazard inventories, direct observations, measurements and interviews. Workers were assigned to one of four stress levels ranging from low (A) to high (D). Subjects were 729 males, aged 20-67 years, employed in five factories in Israel. A linear relationship between E-S-L AND accident incidence was found, increasing from the lowest to the highest E-S-L. Moreover, workers more sensitive to environmental stressors, as indicated by their reported subjective annoyance, showed higher accident rates across all the ergonomic stress levels, a tendency which was statistically significant at levels C and D. On the other hand, sickness absence was significantly related to the overall subjective stress experienced, as manifested by reported job dissatisfaction and somatic complaints, and not directly to E-S-L. These findings highlight the role of aggregate work stress, coupled with individual sensitivity to environmental stressors, in increasing the risk of accidents.
Melamed
S
S
Luz
J
J
Najenson
T
T
Jucha
E
E
Green
M
M
D000041:Absenteeism; D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006804:Ergonomics; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*