Abstract
Consideration of factors associated with increased accident likelihood has tended to concentrate on the influence of one specific factor (for example, noise) and other influences are either not considered or are controlled for. The aim here was to examine the influence of combinations of stressors on the prevalence of workplace accidents using self-report measures of exposure, health and work outcomes. Logistic regression analyses were carried out, with 'work-related/non-work-related accident' as the dependent variable. The main predictors were combinations of physical agents (noise, fumes, hazardous substances) and temporal stressors (night and shift work, long working hours). Additional predictors - the job demand-control-support model (Karasek 1979; Johnson and Hall 1988) and home-work interface (HWI) were also investigated. Other measured predictors (i.e., age, sex and social class based on occupation) were included in all analyses. There was some evidence for an increased likelihood of work-related accidents in those exposed to combinations of stressors - increased likelihood was largely due to independent effects of stressors, particularly noise. Certain stressors were also associated with a decreased risk of having a work-related accident (i.e. unpredictable work hours). Job-demand-control-support did not have a major impact on predicting work-/nonwork-related accident likelihood. Prevalence of accidents at work largely reflected social class based on occupation - 'skilled manual workers' or 'partly skilled workers' were most likely to have an accident.
Highlights
The purpose of this paper is to describe a preliminary investigation into the association of self-reported measures of occupational factors and the likelihood of suffering an accident at work
Physical and temporal stressors were measured by a series of items that asked whether the individual's job involved exposure to loud noise, disturbing background noise, exposure to fumes, having to handle hazardous substances, night work, shift work, unsociable working hours, unpredictable working hours or long working hours
Physical stressors and temporal stressors were considered in terms of their combined effects on work-related accident likelihood
Summary
The purpose of this paper is to describe a preliminary investigation into the association of self-reported measures of occupational factors and the likelihood of suffering an accident at work. The workplace is a complicated environment and the general approach of studying, say, the effects of noise or night work on accident risk does not necessarily reflect the reality of the workplace. This survey intends to provide enough information so that simple questions concerning whether there is a significant increase in work accident likelihood associated with exposure to specific combinations of stressors can be addressed with more confidence
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