Physical working conditions as covered in European monitoring questionnaires

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Maren Formazin¹  Hermann Burr¹  Falk Liebers¹  Lars Louis Andersen²  Sannie Vester Thorsen²  Agnes Parent-Thirion³  Greet Vermeylen³  Luz Galiana Blanco⁴  Francisco Javier Pinilla García⁴  Tore Tynes⁵  Cecilie Aagestad⁵  Wendela Hooftman⁶  Irene Houtman⁶  Merja Perkio-Makela⁷ 

[1] Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (Federal Institute for Occupational Safety & Health), Department “Work & Health”, Nöldnerstraße 40-42, 10317, Berlin, Germany;Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø (National Research Center for the Working Environment), Lersø Parkallé 105, 2100, København Ø, Denmark;European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, 18, Dublin, Ireland;Instituto Nacional de Seguridad e Higiene en el Trabajo (National Institute of Safety and Hygiene at Work), Calle de Torrelaguna 73, 28027, Madrid, Spain;Statens arbeidsmiljøinstitutt (National Institute of Occupational Health), Gydas vei 8, Majorstuen, Oslo, Norway;TNO, Postbus 3005, 2301 DA, Leiden, Netherlands;Työterveyslaitos (Finnish Institute of Occupational Health), Topeliuksenkatu 41 b, 00250, Helsinki, Finland;

关键词: Physical workloads;    Mechanical exposures;    Monitoring;    Surveillance;    European dimension;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-017-4465-7

 received in 2016-12-22, accepted in 2017-05-25,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe prevalence of workers with demanding physical working conditions in the European work force remains high, and occupational physical exposures are considered important risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), a major burden for both workers and society. Exposures to physical workloads are therefore part of the European nationwide surveys to monitor working conditions and health. An interesting question is to what extent the same domains, dimensions and items referring to the physical workloads are covered in the surveys. The purpose of this paper is to determine 1) which domains and dimensions of the physical workloads are monitored in surveys at the national level and the EU level and 2) the degree of European consensus among these surveys regarding coverage of individual domains and dimensions.MethodItems on physical workloads used in one European wide/Spanish and five other European nationwide work environment surveys were classified into the domains and dimensions they cover, using a taxonomy agreed upon among all participating partners.ResultsThe taxonomy reveals that there is a modest overlap between the domains covered in the surveys, but when considering dimensions, the results indicate a lower agreement. The phrasing of items and answering categories differs between the surveys. Among the domains, the three domains covered by all surveys are “lifting, holding & carrying of loads/pushing & pulling of loads”, “awkward body postures” and “vibrations”. The three domains covered less well, that is only by three surveys or less, are “physical work effort”, “working sitting”, and “mixed exposure”.ConclusionsThis is the fırst thorough overview to evaluate the coverage of domains and dimensions of self-reported physical workloads in a selection of European nationwide surveys. We hope the overview will provide input to the revisions and updates of the individual countries’ surveys in order to enhance coverage of relevant domains and dimensions in all surveys and to increase the informational value of the surveys.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017