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Part II: Health and safety issues

1. Introduction

The idea of this section of the survey was to get some idea of the reality on the shop floor - what do workers think are the major problems at the workplace - to give trade unions an idea of priorities and where to address their education and prevention policy efforts. Trying to put some kind of priority on osh/env issues is very important for trade unions. With limited resources, both in financial and in personnel terms, it is imperative that certain issues are tackled first rather than spreading resources thinly and achieving superficial results. How to allocate priorities? As it was not possible to go into detail, the questionnaire asked if listed issues were "no problem", a "minor problem" or a "serious problem". Although this may be a rather simplistic way around the issue at least it gives the national unions an idea of what concerns their members, and thus ensures support for their policies that are based on real issues.

Figure 8. Workplaces by the percentage of accidents recorded in 1997

2. Safety issues

Occupational accidents (not the causes) are discrete, visible happenings, unlike work-related illnesses which may be very subtle or confused with other symptoms such as the common cold or flu, or which may take years to develop, sometimes even after a worker has retired. For this reason, the survey asked for the number of accidents recorded in the workplace, believing that this would be a fairly easy-to-see indicator of general conditions of safety, or of the "dangerousness" of a particular workplace. Leaving aside the arguments about definitions of accidents (number of days off work, etc.) and what does or does not get recorded, it was found that 20.6% of the workplaces surveyed had no recorded accidents in 1997. The majority of workplaces had an accident rate of less than 2%, that is two or fewer accidents per 100 employees over the year, and 18% of workplaces had an accident rate of 3% or more (See figure 8).

Accidents were most common in primary production (nearly all mining and quarrying in this survey) and in manufacturing where all workplaces recorded accidents in 1997. In 25% of primary production workplaces over 3% of the employees had accidents (See table 2).

Table 2. Workplaces of different industries by the % of employees who had a recorded accident in 1997

Figure 9. Workplaces by the underrepresentativeness of figures on recorded accidents in 1997

Most of the respondents were not able to assess by what percentage the number of accidents was underrepresentative. Only 32% ventured some figure for this, of which 66% said that it is not underrepresentative.

For comparison, some European Union occupational accident statistics for different industries are given below:

Table 3. Accidents at work in the European Union by type of activity (1994) per 100,000 employees

Figure 10. Safety issues that were experienced as problems in the workplaces

The three most common safety problems - whether serious or minor - in the workplaces surveyed were falls, lighting and fire risks. As figure 10. shows, 72.7% of the respondents considered falls, 69.8% lighting and 67.3% fire risk as safety problems at their workplaces. However, the most common serious problems were lighting (a serious problem in 30.2% of the workplaces in the survey), electrical hazards (28.3%) and cold temperatures (21.2%) (See figure 10)

Looking at which hazards were considered serious problems in different sectors, the predominant concerns were quite different in different industries (See table 4). Safety issues were considered as serious problems more often in manufacturing workplaces than in other economic sectors. In this sector the most common serious problems were lighting and condition of floors, which were cited in 42.9% of workplaces, and cold temperatures, which were a problem in 35.7% of workplaces.

In primary production (remember that 10 of the 11 replies from this sector were from mining and quarrying), the most common serious problems were electrical hazards, fire risks and welding hazards. It appears, however, that less than one-third of the workplaces in this sector cited even the most common problem, electrical hazards, as a serious. The use of hand tools and a lack of machine guards were not cited as risks at all in this sector.

The construction and energy industries also cited electrical hazards as their major concern, with 50% of the respondents rating these as serious. Falls were also common problems cited in 25% of workplaces in this sector. However, compared with the other economic sectors this sector does not appear as dangerous as would normally be expected, and less so than in the service sector in this survey.

It must be pointed out that all service sector activities were combined for this particular analysis, so that a large component is made up of transport and communications rather than administrative-type activities. This would explain both the relatively high amount of serious problems and the type of problems experienced in this sector in the survey. The most common serious problems were lighting (in 46.2% of workplaces in this sector), cold temperatures (25%) and humidity (25%).

Table 4. Safety issues that were experienced as serious problems in the workplaces of different industries

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

Figure 11. Health hazards that were experienced as problems in the workplaces

3. Health issues

According to the respondents health hazards were experienced as problems more often than safety issues. The most common problems in all sectors combined were eye strain, dust and fumes and noise. Eye strain was experienced as a problem of some degree - minor or serious - in 89.1% of workplaces, dust and fumes in 81.5%, and noise in 80%. However, vibration and noise were considered more often than dust and fumes as a serious problem (See figure 11).

According to statistics published by the Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs, the most common reported occupational diseases in 1998 were hearing damage (109 cases), musculoskeletal disorders (76), vibration disease (37), acute poisoning (21), and erysipelas, mainly linked to meat processing (15).

What stands out in the Estonian survey is that no health hazard is common to all sectors, except perhaps for eye strain which is rated as among the most common hazards, if not the most common in the different sectors (See table 5). Eye strain was experienced as a serious problem in 76.9% of service sector workplaces, 42.9% of manufacturing, 27.3% of primary production, and in 16.7% of construction and energy workplaces. Although not such an issue in the construction and energy industries, noise was cited as a serious health problem in 71.4% of manufacturing sites, 54.5% of primary production, and in 30.8% of service sector workplaces. Also of note and as the statistics mentioned above show, the most common problems are very common, being cited by 50% to over 70% of workplaces in some sectors.

Another common finding is that radiation hazards are low, or even zero, on the list of concerns across all sectors, although 7.7% of workplaces in the service sector cite radiation as a problem.

In the primary production sector the major problems were vibration (mentioned by 72.7% of workplaces in this sector), noise and dust and fumes (40%), all of which are understandable in the predominantly mining and quarrying industries in this sector.

Vibration was also an outstanding problem in manufacturing (mentioned by 50% of workplaces), but was nonetheless outranked by noise (71.4%), repetitive movements (64.3%) and dust and fumes (57.1%). All in all, serious health problems were more typical of manufacturing than of primary production worksites.

As with safety issues, and contrary to expectations, the construction and energy, electricity, gas and water supply industries appeared to be relatively "safe" as health hazards were considered as serious problems much less often than in other sectors, including the service sector. The most common issue was burns and this was mentioned by 25% of workplaces in this sector.

The survey also showed that the service sector, as with the safety issues, can not be considered as "safe" concerning health hazards. Many hazards were perceived as serious in this sector, with eye strain being the most common. Uncomfortable work position was also mentioned by 53.8% of workplaces and repetitive movements by 38.5%.

Table 5. Health hazards that were experienced as serious problems in different industries

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

Although only 32.1% of the respondents considered tobacco smoke as a health hazard that causes problems, 58.8% of the respondents considered tobacco smoking as a problem in the workplace. Although this difference can only be speculated on it may be that workers consider tobacco smoke as a nuisance, or that the act of smoking could give rise to safety problems, rather than actually causing health problems. Alcohol consumption was experienced as a workplace problem by 34% of the respondents, taking of medication by 7.5% and taking of illegal drugs was not considered as a problem in the workplace at all.

Figure 12. Organisational hazards that were experienced as problems in the workplaces

4. Organisational issues

Organisational issues can have an effect on safety, health and well-being - through stress from job insecurity, job dissatisfaction, style of supervision, overload, or through fatigue from long work hours, speed of work, shiftwork, etc. Work design, sanitary and eating facilities, housekeeping, storage, etc. can all have direct consequences on safety and health at work.

Organisational issues were considered less often as problems - serious and minor combined - than were health and safety issues. Over all sectors, the most common organisational issues cited in the survey were eating facilities (by 54.7% of respondents), job security (by 52.8%) and monotonous work (by 50.9%). However, monotonous work and workplace design were the most common serious problems. When long workhours was considered as a problem, it was usually a serious problem. (See figure 12).

In primary production, shift work was by far the most common serious problem (in 45% of workplaces), followed by style of supervision (25%) and monotonous work (22.2%).

In manufacturing, monotonous work was the most common serious problem, and after that came speed of work and job security. Job security and speed of work were considered much more often as serious problems in manufacturing than in other industries.

In construction and energy, long work hours was the most common serious problem, followed by work overload and eating facilities. Other organisational issues in this sector were not experienced very frequently, and several were not of serious concern at all.

In services, long work hours, shift work and speed of work were the most common serious problems. The service sector was also characterised by consistently high levels of organisational problems. Whereas some problems were not considered as serious in some workplaces at all in the other sectors, all organisational problems were experienced as serious in at least 15.4% of workplaces in the service sector (See table 6).

Table 6. Organisational hazards that were experienced as serious problems in the workplaces of different industries

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

Figure 13. Impact on the general environment that was experienced as a problem in the workplaces

5. Environmental issues

The most common workplace issues considered as problems in relation to their impact on the environment were, in decreasing order, waste of energy (mentioned by 66% of workplaces as a serious or minor problem), noise (49.1%), dust (46.3%), air pollution (43.4%) and solid waste (41.5%). However, noise was considered by the respondents as the most serious problem (See figure 13).

In manufacturing, the most common serious problems were noise, air pollution and dust. In construction and energy, electricity, gas and water, a risk of major industrial accidents was by far the most common serious problem at 48.8%, followed by water pollution at 31.7%. Even in the service sector, many workplace problems were considered to have a serious impact on the environment, with risk of major accident being cited by 16.4% of workplaces in this sector, noise by 15.2% and air pollution by 14% (See table 7).

Over exploitation of the environment was by far the most serious problem in the primary production sector (mainly mining and quarrying worksites in this survey) where more than half of the workplaces considered it a serious problem. Other environmental issues that distinguish this sector from the others are water and soil pollution.

In manufacturing, the most common serious environmental issues of concern were noise, bad smells and dust. In the construction, energy, electricity, gas and water supply industries, only four issues were considered as serious problems - risk of major industrial accidents, waste of energy, over exploitation of the environment and liquid waste. The first two issues were mentioned by 16.7% of workplaces in this sector and the other two by only 8.3%.

In the service sector (made up mainly of transport and communications), the most common serious problems were dust, air pollution and waste of energy (See table 7).

Table 7. Impact of the workplace on the general environment that was experienced as a serious problem in the workplaces of different industries

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

6. Summary on issues perceived as problems

Table 8. Most common serious problems according to sector - round-up of priorities

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

Figure 14. Symptoms or diseases from which the workers were suffering sometimes or frequently

7. Symptoms and diseases

The most common symptoms from which the workers were said to be suffering sometimes or frequently were backaches, tiredness and stress. In addition to these rather general symptoms, which can be caused by a number of hazards at work or at home, workers suffered from symptoms or diseases like coughing, sore throat, cuts or bruises, ringing in the ears, allergies, sore eyes and gastro-intestial disturbances in more than 60% of the workplaces surveyed.

Usually, workers suffered from the symptoms or diseases only sometimes rather than frequently, although certain symptoms and signs were mentioned as being frequent in over 20% of workplaces: backache, tiredness, stress, headaches, coughing and irritability (See figure 14).

Looking at table 9. it can be seen that workers in the manufacturing industries suffered more frequently in general than did workers in other industries. Many more workplaces in this sector were said to give rise to headaches, depression, stress, and skin irritation than in other sectors. In fact skin irritation as a serious problem was exclusive to the manufacturing sector, and that in 28.6% of the manufacturing workplaces.

Primary production was characterised by backache, mentioned as a serious problem by 63.6% of workplaces in this sector, coughing and breathing difficulties. As 10 of the 11 workplaces in this sector in the survey were from mining and quarrying these particular symptoms and signs are not surprising.

Workers in the construction and energy industries seem to be relatively healthy compared to workers in the other sectors. Apart from backache, stress and headaches, common to other sector workplaces, these workers suffered from irritability and high blood pressure. Characteristic of this sector was the relatively low incidence of most symptoms and the total lack of several serious problems that were otherwise present in other sectors.

Workers in the service sector, as in the other sectors, suffered frequently from tiredness, backache and stress. Although not experienced so much, sore eyes and gastro-intestinal disturbances stand out as being much more common in this sector than in others.

Table 9. Symptoms or diseases from which the workers were suffering frequently in the workplaces of different industries

Energy means energy, electricity, gas and water supply

Table 10. Most frequently experienced symptoms and signs according to sector - a roundup

Overall	Primary	Manufacturing	Construction and energy	Services
Backache Tiredness Stress Headaches Coughing	Backache Tiredness Coughing Breathing difficulties Headaches	Tiredness Stress Backache Headaches Coughing	Backache Irritability Stress Headaches High blood pressure	Tiredness Backache Stress Coughing Headaches

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