Transcript Document

Stress and psychosocial risks:
some practical solutions
European Agency for
Safety and Health at Work
Dr Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez
Project Manager
Overview
• Introduction to the Agency
• Psychosocial risks: current situation
• Agency activities and publications
– Research review
– Identifying ‘good practice’
• Some practical solutions
– Tools and methods
– Success factors
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
Agency Network Structure
2nd Generation Agency Network Structure
Delivery
Management
Assistance
BOARD
BUREAU
European
Topic Centres
Consultants
AGENCY
National
Focal Point
Network
FOCAL
POINTS
European
Expert Groups
EU Focal Points
CC Focal Points
EEA EFTA Focal Points
The Agency’s aims and role
• Aims to make Europe’s workplaces safer,
healthier and more productive
• Acts as a catalyst for developing, collecting,
analysing and disseminating information
that improves the state of occupational
safety and health in Europe
• http://agency.osha.eu.int
Psychosocial work environment: stress
• Second biggest OSH problem in the EU
– Plus: interaction with second-biggest problem: back
ache and MSDs in general
• Approximately 28% of workers affected (40M)
• Can be related to up to 50% of all absence
• Number of people affected has doubled in the
last decade (HSC, GB). High in the public
sector
• Estimated cost per year:
– EU: €20,000 million (EC, 2000)
– UK: £3.7 billion (HSE 1995/96)
Current situation
Workers stress
reporting
stress (by
country)
(2000)
(by country)
Reporting
53
38
%
37
35
33
33
30
29
28
26
25
25
23
19
18
12
EL
L
S
FIN
F
I
B
E
EU
DK
D
NL
UK
A
P
IRL
Stress in Spain
•IV Encuesta Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo
(data from late 1999)
•Short-term ‘symptoms of stress’
Spain: conditions by sector
Accident at work in
previous 2 years
> 3 ‘stress symptoms’
Current situation: intimidation [1]
Workers reporting intimidation (by sector)
9
All EU
Electricity, gas and w ater supply
3
Agriculture and fishing
3
%
Financial interm ediation
5
Construction
5
Manufacturing and m ining
Real estate
Wholesale and retail trade
6
7
9
Transport and com m unications
12
Hotels and restaurants
12
Education and health
12
Public adm inistration and defence
14
Current situation: intimidation [2]
Workers reporting intimidation (by country)
15
14
14
12
11
10
10
9
%
8
7
7
6
5
FIN
NL
UK
S
B
F
IRL
DK
D
L
A
E
5
EL
4
4
I
P
EU
Current situation: EU15 / CC12
Health outcomes (CC12 vs EU15)
%
43 40
27
Health at risk
36 29 28
30 34 33
Stress
Backache
Romania
CC 12
EU 15
42 41
19 24 23
Muscular
pains in neck
and shoulder
23
Overall
fatigue
Current situation: trends
Working ...
%
48
54
56
50
at very high speed
1990
56
60
to tight deadlines
1995
2000
Current situation: trends by country
High-speed work (by country) (1995/2000)
80
75
69
70
75
61
67 66
63 63
58
61
58
54
59
57 55 56
54 53
46
52 50 52
50
48 50 48
43
%
46 48
37
S
NL
FIN
EL
A
DK
D
I
2000
EU
1995
F
B
L
P
UK
IRL
E
Needs identified by Member States
Exposure Indicator/OSH
Outcome
Number of Focal Points Reporting
the Development of Additional
Preventive Action is necessary
Stress
10
Vibration
9
Lifting/moving heavy loads
9
Handling Chemicals
8
Musculoskeletal Disorders
8
• Stress as top priority for action
• Psychosocial risks: issues of definition and
reporting, but clearly a problem
• Need to identify and disseminate ‘practical
solutions’
Stress research review (2000) – key findings
• Limitations in contemporary research but
enough scientific evidence to support:
• Stress can be dealt with in the same way
as other OSH issues:
• Adapting the ‘control cycle’ (already wellestablished for the assessment and
management of physical risks) to the
management of psychosocial risks.
• Practical examples of this approach
applied already exist in the EU.
• Future research should concentrate on
stress management interventions at the
organisational level.
Actions to prevent or reduce stress at work
• Treat like other workplace hazards
• Risk assessment and management:
– Identify hazards
– Decide who might be harmed and how
– Evaluate the risk by:
• Identifying what action is already being taken
• Deciding whether it is enough
• If it is not, deciding what more should be done
– Record the findings
– Review the assessment and check the impact of
measures taken
Stress prevention: instruments and tools
• Psychosocial risks: different in nature from
physical risks (not tangible, interactions, etc.)
• More difficult to develop standardised, ‘off the
shelf’ solutions
• EU legislation: focus should be on risk
assessment and primary prevention
• Long research tradition, but few practical tools
• Need to develop user-friendly tools, especially
for SMEs
Identifying solutions
• Need to use tools that:
– are valid and reliable
– fit the organisational climate/culture
– are sensitive to the context of the specific
workplace – risk assessment
• Some examples:
Work Positive: prioritising organisational stress
•
•
•
Health Education Board for Scotland &
Heath and Safety Authority (Ireland)
‘Commended entry’ at the Agency’s Good
Practice Awards 2002
Developed a user-friendly pack to guide
organisations through a 5-step process
1. Raising awareness, gaining and
demonstrating commitment
2. Benchmarking: assessing the current
situation
3. Identifying the causes and assessing the
risks
4. Avoiding and reducing any risks identified
www.hebs.com/workpositive
5.
Reviewing the situation
Work Positive: benchmarking tool
Completed by coordinator before questionnaire sent out
Work Positive: risk assessment questionnaire
3 pages: 54 questions + ‘open response’
CoPsoQ (2000)
• Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire
• Developed by AMI (DK), after studying 16
other questionnaires
• 3 versions:
– Long [141 questions]: for research purposes
– Medium [95]: to be used by work environment
professionals (incl. software)
– Short [44]: to be used ‘by the workplace’
CoPsoQ
CoPsoQ
• Questions about working conditions, mental
and general health, and coping
• Thorough psychometric development
• Already used in many studies: allows for
comparisons to be made with national
average (MS), and with age groups, job
types, pay systems, etc.
• Spanish and other versions
ISTAS-21: adapted from CoPsoQ
• Measuring only ‘dimensions’ for which there is
good scientific evidence of impact on health
• Adapted by:
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Arbejdsmiljpinstitittet
ISTAS
Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo
Centre de Seguretat i Condicions de Salut en el Treball de
Barcelona
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Mutua Fraternidad Muprespa
Gabinet Higia Salut i Treball
Departament de Salut Laboral de Comissions Obreres de
Catalunya (CONC).
www.istas.net/istas21
Other examples: WOCCQ
• WOrking Conditions and Control
Questionnaire (Package)
• Developed at the University of Liège
• Validated in French and Dutch, also
available in English
• Basic tool + optional questionnaires to
‘refine the diagnosis’
www.woccq.be
Other examples: QPSNordic
• General Nordic Questionnaire, Lindstrom et al.
• Analysis at 3 levels:
– Task
– Individual
– Social and organisational
• Two versions:
– QPSNordic: research, in-depth, 123 questions
– QPSNordic 34+: practical tool, 34 questions
• Available in English, Swedish, Danish,
Norwegian and Finnish
QPSNordic 34+
QPSNordic
SUVA checklists
• Simple, attractive
‘checklists’ (4pp.)
• Self-assessment and
space for ‘control
measures’
• Also published
support/reference
documents
• Available in Italian,
German and French
SUVA checklists
SUVA checklists
SUVA checklists
More than just tools: process issues [1]
• Example: ‘soft guidelines’ developed
at AMI for the COPSOQ:
1. Never start a survey unless there is a clear
intention to take action
2. All results are anonymous and participation
is completely voluntary
3. Workers should have the right to see and
discuss all results
More than just tools: process issues [2]
4. The results should be considered as a
common tool for dialogue and future
development – not as a judgment or a school
report!
5. All parties – workers, middle management
and management – should participate in, and
be committed to, the whole process
Identifying practical solutions
• Agency’s European Week 2002: Stress,
bullying, violence
• Raising awareness and disseminating practical
solutions
• Factsheets
• Case studies report
• Good Practice awards
Agency publications – factsheets
• Factsheets available on:
– Work-related stress
– Bullying at work
– Violence at work
– Information from the Agency
on stress at work
– Practical advice for workers on
tackling stress at work
– Strategies to tackle
psychosocial issues
– Research on work-related
stress
Agency publications - magazine
Agency publications - reports
Case studies report: examples include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Regulatory approaches
Non-regulatory interventions
Campaigns
Guidance
Sector approaches
National and regional
authority initiatives
• Workplace examples
• Collective agreements
Good Practice Awards: European Week
2002 psychosocial risks
Examples:
• 11 stress prevention
• 4 violence
• 5 bullying
Criteria:
• Tackling risks at source
• Real improvements
• Sustainability
• Consultation
• > just legal compliance
• Transferability
Stress prevention in an old people’s home –
Spain – (1) how:
• Cooperation: management, trade
unions & local insurance company
• Risk assessment of the work and a
staff questionnaire
• Problems found included:
–
–
–
–
–
–
High work load
Lack of information
Lack of decision-making responsibility
Little possibility of promotion
Unforeseen events/changes of plan
Physical work conditions and
physical effort
Stress prevention in an old people’s home –
Spain – (2) solutions:
• Providing lifting aids, hoists
• Staff training to deal with emotional stress
• Clear definitions of content of tasks and
responsibilities, in an agreement
• Specifying functions and competencies of
nursing assistants –e.g drug dispensing
• Increase staffing levels during peak hours
• Communication protocol for risks
• Increasing worker autonomy, discretion
• Promoting worker participation
Often low or zero cost solutions!
Good practice award winners I
Call centre in Germany: including stress prevention
measures at the design stage
Preventive measures
• Staff participation, job rotation, task completion,
scope, short breaks, training, improvements in work
environment
Good practice award winners II
• Petrochemicals company in Scotland
– During a plant commissioning project
– Effective employee involvement: multidisciplinary project team formed, including
an external expert
– ‘top five’ stressors identified and controls
identified
Success factors [1]
What we can learn from experience:
• Risk assessment is the key & the first step
• Context-specific solutions
• Thorough planning and a stepwise approach
• Staff involved in identifying problems and
developing solutions
• Combination of measures covering
anticipation, prevention, intervention, support
and evaluation, with main focus on collective
prevention measures
Success factors [2]
• Involvement & commitment from staff, their
representatives and management: essential for
long-term sustainability
• Solutions do not have to be expensive
(sometimes low or zero cost), but there must be
management commitment to take action
• Any outside expertise must be competent:
experienced practitioners and evidence-based
solutions
• May require liaison with external bodies –
police, judiciary, local community (violence)
Summary
• Psychosocial risks: less tangible, not so
straight-forward
• Tools for risk assessment already available
and tested
• Variety of tools: from complex, research-led
instruments to simple checklists
• No ‘easy fix’ or recipe for interventions:
Context-specific solutions
• Collaborative process for identifying and
tackling risks
Further information
• European Agency’s web feature on European
Week 2002: http://osha.eu.int/ew2002
• European Agency’s Research on Work-related
Stress (EN and IT)
http://agency.osha.eu.int/publications/reports/203/en
Thank you
http://agency.osha.eu.int
Eusebio Rial-Gonzalez
[email protected]