In summer and autumn of last year, 49,320 establishments in 36 countries across Europe, including all 28 EU members, six candidate countries and two European Free Trade Association states, participated in ahuge survey which aimed to assist workplaces in tackling occupational health and safety while promoting the well-being and health of employees.
The initial findings of this pan-European study, known as the Second European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER-2), have now been published and make for interesting reading.
The European workforce is known to be an ageing one and the extent of this was underlined by the finding that in 21 per cent of EU-28 establishments, more than a quarter of employees are over the age of 55. Malta had the smallest number of workers in this category, with only nine per cent of respondents reporting such a situation.
The survey also looked at language issues at the place of work and found that six per cent of EU-28 organisations employed individuals who had difficulty understanding the language spoken at the premises. The figure was highest in Malta and Luxembourg, at 15 per cent. While higher percentages were reported outside the EU-28, such a finding should not be underestimated.
Communication difficulties between workers can increase the chance of accidents and injuries occurring and can thus have important health and safety implications for those employed in Maltese workplaces.
When individuals consider the factors that influence their health at work, generally one focuses on physical tasks such as carrying heavy loads, working in noisy environments or handling dangerous chemicals.
It would probably thus surprise some that the most common risk factor found to impact upon European workers’ safety and health was in fact a psychosocial one: “having to deal with difficult customers, pupils or patients”.
Such factors are recognised causes of stress and are known to not only influence workers’ psychological wellness but even their physical health. For example, heart disease and musculoskeletal pain, like lower backache, have both been associated with psychosocial risk factors. The study identified a reluctance to discuss psychosocial risks, making it difficult to tackle them.
Just over half of all organisations in the EU-28 stated that they had enough information about how to assess psychosocial risks; in Malta’s case this stood at 35 per cent, the lowest percentage in the EU. Physical risk factors did feature in the study with “working in tiring or painful positions” and “repetitive hand or arm movements” identified as being the second and third most common risk factors within the EU-28.
Nobody knows a job better than those who do it
Many Maltese workers are likely to identify with such risk factors and the finding highlights why musculoskeletal problems, including neck and back pain, as well as arm, hand, leg and foot discomfort, are becoming increasingly common among the working population. Such problems, when unchallenged, can give rise to long-term pain and disability, an unwelcome scenario for both the injured worker and the employer.
Key to identifying such risk factors is conducting a risk assessment. The survey concluded that larger establishments were more likely to carry such reviews, with an average of 76 per cent of EU-28 organisations doing so regularly.
This figure dropped to 65 per cent in Malta’s case, however, organisations in 10 of the 36 countries taking part in the study, including Austria, Switzerland and France, were, on average, found to carry out fewer regular risk assessments.
The vast majority of participating organisations that did such audits on a regular basis viewed them as a valuable way to manage health and safety.
The two main reported reasons for not carrying out assessments were: already being aware of the hazards and risks within the workplace or believing there were no major problems.
While this may be the case, it is possible that such organisations were simply less aware of the risks that surrounded them, thus allowing a dangerous working environment to persist. The study also evaluated the reasons that motivate organisations to manage health and safety, finding that the main driving force reported, cited by 85 per cent of EU-28 establishments, was to fulfil legal obligations. While country-specific statistics are currently unavailable, it was noted that, in some countries, in particular those that joined the EU in 2004, the primary reported motivator was to maintain the organisation’s reputation.
A second important instigator was to meet the expectations of employees or their representatives. In fact, 81 per cent of EU-28 organisations that reported carrying out risk assessments regularly said they involved their employees in the design and implementation of health and safety measures.
This is a highly positive point because nobody knows a job better than those who do it and, thus, such employees can play a valuable role in identifying measures that can both make a difference and are feasible.
These findings represent an initial look at the ESENER-2 data and, therefore, should be interpreted with a degree of caution.
More detailed findings are expected later in the year but such early information already provides policymakers and organisations with some food for thought.
More information can be obtained from www.esener.eu.
Luke Anthony Fiorini is assistant lecturer at the university’s Centre for Labour Studies.