Tiring (forced and uncomfortable) posture or a position that causes pain is one of the most common factors that adversely affect the physical health of workers, especially in the transportation and warehouse industries.

In 2020, the study „Accidents at work and work-related health problems” was carried out in the Member States of the European Union. Based on the data from the second quarter of the previous year, the Statistical Office in Gdansk carried out a module survey for the basic BAEL survey (Labour Force Survey).

On their basis, knowledge was obtained about the scale of the occurrence of factors in the workplace that may have a negative impact on the health of employees.

10.7 million people indicated the presence of factors in the workplace that may have an adverse impact on physical health. This is an increase of 7.0 percentage points. compared to the results of the survey carried out in 2013.

The most common factors:

• tiring (forced, uncomfortable) body position or position that causes pain – 19.3% of working people,
• physical effort related to the movement of heavy loads – 11.3%,
• activities requiring high eyesight concentration – 8.5%,
• repetitive hand or arm movements – 8%.

The study shows that men were more often exposed to these inconveniences – 70.0% of working men indicated the presence of at least one factor detrimental to health in the workplace.

On the other hand, women were more often exposed to repetitive hand or arm movements (25.5% of women and 23.6% of men) and activities requiring high eyesight concentration (21.3% of women and 19.7% of men).

The highest number of employed who indicated the presence of at least one unfavourable factor in the workplace was recorded in the following sections: mining and quarrying (81.9% of the employed), agriculture, forestry, hunting and fishing (80.4%) and construction (78.8%) .

7.3 million of the employed indicated the presence of factors in the workplace that may have a negative impact on mental well-being, of which 66.5% indicated more than one unfavourable factor.

Compared to the 2013 edition of the study, the share of working persons exposed to this type of factors increased by 4.7 percentage points.

The most frequent unfavourable factor, indicated by 24.2% of the employed, was high time pressure or excessive workload (for 18.9% of the employed it was the main negative factor for mental well-being).

The second negative factor, indicated by 20.9% of the employed, was contact with difficult clients, patients, students, etc. (for 14.2% of the employed it was the main negative factor).

Women were more often exposed to factors detrimental to mental well-being – 48.4%. Men, on the other hand, more often indicated high time pressure or excessive workload (24.4% of men and 23.8% of women) as well as violence or a threat of violence (1.2% and 0.8%, respectively).

Source: Urząd Statystyczny w Gdańsku

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.