Is fixed-term employment a new risk for adverse physical working conditions?
Relationships between employment type and the physical work environment were studied among blue-collar workers (n = 1,127). Based on survey data, we set out to compare the evaluations of environmental load and physical strain at work given by fixed-term (17% of all) and permanent workers. The type of employment was not related to environmental load. However, working on a fixed-term basis increased the risk of physical strain at work. Analyses revealed that this connection was evident only among fixed-term construction workers. The results did not support the much-cited view that the disintegration of standard employment has given rise to a new series of work environment problems. Such problems are concentrated in an area with a long tradition of work environment problems, that is, in the construction industry.
Saloniemi
Antti
A
Work Research Centre, 33014 University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. antti.saloniemi@uta.fi
Virtanen
Pekka
P
Koivisto
Anna-Maija
AM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000145:classification; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009790:Occupations / Q000145:classification; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*; D017132:Workplace / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*