Concern about psychosocial risks such as stress, violence and harassment is increasing in European organisations, the first findings of the biggest workplace health and safety survey in Europe show. The new data has been released by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.
Four out of five European managers express their concerns about work-related stress, the European Survey Of Enterprises On New And Emerging Risks reveals, making stress at work as important as workplace accidents for companies. Work-related stress is very acute in health and social work (91per cent of companies regard it as of some or major concern) and in education (84 per cent).
"With the financial crisis in full swing, 79 per cent of European managers voice their concern about stress at work, which is already recognised as an important burden on European productivity", said EU-OSHA director Jukka Takala.
"But despite the high levels of concern, it is clearly worrying that only 26 per cent of EU organisations have procedures in place to deal with stress. The survey highlights the importance of providing effective support for enterprises to tackle stress, which will be crucial in ensuring we have the healthy productive workforce needed to boost European economic performance and competitiveness".
In Malta 60 per cent of those surveyed expressed concern over work-related stress. Fifteen per cent were concerned about bullying and harassment at work as well as violence or the threat of violence. Half the companies surveyed in Malta said they informed employees about psychosocial risks and the effects on health and safety while 11 per cent said they made use of the services of a psychologist at work.
The survey also shows that 42 per cent of management representatives consider it more difficult to tackle psychosocial risks, compared with other safety and health issues. The sensitivity of the issue (53 per cent) and lack of awareness (50 per cent) are the main barriers for dealing effectively with psychosocial issues, according to the findings.
The survey reveals that workplaces with employee participation are much more likely to see successful health and safety measures implemented. This is particularly the case for smaller workplaces where it is an important trigger for effective management of psychosocial risks.
In fact, 84 per cent of companies with formal on-site employee representation have an occupational safety and health (OSH) policy or action plan, compared to only 71 per cent of companies without formal representation.
Measures to deal with psychosocial risks such as violence, stress and bullying are applied about twice as frequently by enterprises consulting their employees than by those designing their measures without the participation of employees.
The survey found that the main barriers for dealing with health and safety issues are lack of resources (36 per cent) such as time, staff or money, and lack of awareness (26 per cent).
Survey evidence also shows that even smaller companies are able to carry out in-house risk assessment, but need support in the form of expertise, guidance and tools to manage their risk management process effectively and to design and implement successful preventive measures.
Through its campaign and information services EU-OSHA is working to raise awareness on workplace hazards and promote comprehensive and integrated risk management. EU-OSHA makes available a number of products to make this process easier, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
A new Risk Assessment Tools Database brings together checklists, handbooks, brochures, questionnaires and interactive tools from across Europe, and is freely available from the website. An Online interactive Risk Assessment tool (OiRA) is currently being developed and should encourage and help many thousands of European SMEs across all sectors to carry out risk assessments.
The European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks was conducted by TNS Infratest in spring 2009. The survey covers 31 European countries, including all 27 EU member states, Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland. Thirty-six thousand interviews with managers and health and safety representatives were conducted in establishments with 10 or more employees from both private and public organisations across all sectors (except for agriculture, forestry and fishing).
Taking in the views of managers and workers' representatives from across Europe, the survey provides key information on how European companies currently manage health and safety issues with a particular focus on the relatively new psychosocial risks, such as work-related stress, violence and bullying.
The mission of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work is to make Europe a safer, healthier and more productive place to work. EU-OSHA was set up by the European Union to help meet the information needs in the field of occupational safety and health.