Survey shows economic crisis could affect health and safety at work

According to a Europe-wide opinion poll there is widespread concern among European citizens that the current economic crisis could adversely affect health and safety at work, putting at risk the improvements that they report having seen over the last five years.

Many Europeans also feel well informed about occupational safety and health, and consider it an important factor when choosing a new job.

According to the opinion poll, conducted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, six out of 10 Europeans expect the global economic downturn to cause deterioration in working conditions, especially regarding health and safety. In Malta 41 per cent of respondents said they expected this to be the case.

A significant majority of those questioned, 75 per cent, believe that ill health is caused at least to some extent by the job that people have. The figure for Malta was 61 per cent.

Jukka Takala, Director of European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, said: "The financial crisis may lead organisations to ignore or minimise the importance of workplace safety and health. And there is also a risk that companies will consider cutting back on their investment in occupational safety and health.

"The challenge to us, as the agency, is to convince them that there is no point in making short-term gains at the cost of long-term problems. All of our work shows that the more healthy workplaces are, the more productive they also tend to be."

When asked about the deciding factors for choosing a new job, European Union citizens believe that job security and salary level are more important than safe and healthy working conditions, which ranked third in the poll before working hours.

Male participants regarded salary (61 per cent) and job security (55 per cent) as the most important factor when taking a new job, in comparison to lower percentages among female respondents (53 per cent and 51 per cent, respectively). On the contrary, women seem to give more importance to working hours (26 per cent) than men (19 per cent).

In addition, more male respondents believe that health and safety conditions have improved over recent years (62 per cent) than their female counterparts (only 52 per cent), and men feel better informed on safety and health matters (71 per cent) than women (61 per cent).

In Malta, one's salary and good health and safety levels at the workplace were the two most important factors identified when considering a change in job.

Seventy-two per cent of Maltese respondents also claim that the levels of occupational health and safety have improved over the last five years, placing Malta fourth among the member states, while only 17 per cent seem to think that such levels have deteriorated.

Fifty-nine per cent of Maltese respondents claim to be well-informed about occupational health and safety risks, compared to a European average of 66 per cent.

The "Pan-European opinion poll on occupational safety and health" was conducted among 1,000 people from each EU member state in April and May.

The mission of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, which is an EU agency, is to make Europe a safer, healthier and more productive place to work. It is based in Bilbao, Spain.

A European Week for Safety and Health at Work will be held from October 19 and 23, when hundreds of campaign events and activities will take place all over Europe.