Stressful work characteristics, health indicators and work behavior: the case of machine operators

Abstract

This article shows the results of research on psychosocial risks for a group of machine and plant operators (n = 1014) from the construction, chemical, energy, mining, metal and food industries in Poland. The Psychosocial Risk Scale designed in Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine (NIOM) by Moscicka-Teske and Potocka was used to indicate the occurrence of general and specific occupational stressors and the level of their stressfulness. The results revealed that the studied machine and plant operators experience job context stress – related to working environment features concerning work organization – more frequently than job content stressors – related to the type of tasks they perform. Moreover, a correlation analysis between work features and the health and occupational functioning of the respondents revealed significant but weak relationships between the variables (from −0.08 to −0.23). Comparative analysis revealed the differences between the studied sectors. Such a comparison makes it possible to set goals for each sector and to attempt to improve the distinctive areas.

Keywords:

• mental strain
• stress
• working conditions
• machine operators
• psychosocial risk

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union within the framework of European Social Fund: ‘The impact of the improvement of working conditions on the reduction of economic costs in companies going through modernization and adaptation processes – research project’ [grant number POKL.02.01.02-00-031/10]. Grant manager: Maria Żytko, MA.