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Exposure to physical and psychosocial risk factors in Austria is relatively high, with physical hazards being more prevalent than psychosocial stress factors. Most people are confronted with two or more physical hazards at work but only one psychosocial risk factor. However, exposure to workplace risk factors differs according to age, educational level and economic sector. The most common risk factor faced by Austrian employees at work is working under time pressure.
A recently published data report compiled by Statistics Austria (Statistik Austria) focuses on occupational accidents and work-related health problems. Published in 2009, the report refers to data collected in a supplementary module of the 2007 Austrian Labour Force Survey.
In Austria, 60% of a total of four million employees are exposed to at least one risk factor in their place of work that could cause damage to their health (Figure 1). Almost half of all employees (48.5%) are subjected to at least one physical risk factor and more than one third (34.2%) to at least one psychosocial risk factor at the workplace. More men (67.2%) than women (50.9%) report exposure to at least one risk factor, which can be attributed to the high proportion of men (55%) exposed to at least one physical risk factor. Men (37.9%) are also more often confronted with at least one psychosocial risk factor in their work than women (29.5%).
Employees exposed to physical and psychosocial risk factors at work, by gender, 2007 (%)
The proportion of employees exposed to at least one risk factor varies according to socio-demographic and employment-related aspects. Thus, for instance, exposure to health risk factors increases by age from 56.2% among 15–29 year olds to 62.9% among 45–59 year olds but decreases to 48.5% among employees aged 59 years or older. A possible explanation for this decrease may be that workers in this age group who were exposed to (more) health hazards at the workplace have already retired early due to poor health and are therefore not included in this statistic (‘healthy worker effect’). Differences can also be found in terms of educational level. While nearly 64% of employees who completed an apprenticeship or a vocational school education report being exposed to at least one risk factor, this proportion decreases to 59.9% for employees with compulsory school attendance, to 54.7% for university graduates and to 50.6% for graduates of higher professional or vocational schools. Not surprisingly, exposure to health risks also differs according to sectors of economic activity. Nearly three quarters of all employees in construction (72.3%) state that they are exposed to at least one risk factor in their place of work. Regarding the level of exposure to risk factors at the workplace, the construction sector is followed by sectors such as transport, post and telecommunications (65.9%), health and social work (65.1%), and hotels and restaurants (64%).
Austrian employees are usually not exposed to just one but to several risk factors while doing their work. One fifth of all Austrian employees are confronted with one, and nearly 30% with two or more physical risk factors. This applies to more men (35.8%) than women (19.8%). On average, workers are exposed to three risk factors at the same time. Concerning psychosocial risk factors, the majority of workers, namely 30.1%, are confronted with one risk factor, while an additional 164,000 employees (4.1%) report being confronted with two or more psychosocial risk factors. A gendered bias can also be identified: whereas men are more often confronted with just one psychosocial risk factor (men: 34%, women: 25.2%) women are more frequently subjected to two or more psychosocial risk factors (men: 3.9%, women: 4.3%) at work.
Regarding specific risk factors (Figure 2), the list of physical health hazards is headed by noise with 17.2% of workers reporting being exposed to this risk factor at their workplace. A similar proportion (16.7%) of all employees are required to manually carry or move heavy loads and another 16.5% need to adopt awkward postures to perform their work. About 14% of all employees are exposed both to dust and to high temperatures, whereas 13.1% cite low temperatures as an occupational health hazard. Less than 10% of employees are subjected to other health-damaging physical risk factors, such as humidity, chemicals, vapours, fumes, tobacco smoke, vibrations or smoke.
Concerning psychosocial risk factors, it is especially remarkable that almost one third (30.4%) of all Austrian employees work under time pressure. Time pressure is therefore the most common psychosocial risk factor in Austrian workplaces. Considerably fewer employees are exposed to harassment or bullying (3.2%), violence or the threat of violence (1.2%) or other psychosocial health hazards (4.2%) at their place of work.
Employees exposed to specific physical and psychosocial risk factors at work, 2007 (%)
Working under time pressure is more common among more highly qualified employees: 38% of university graduates report exposure to this risk factor, compared with 21% of employees who completed the nine years of compulsory education. Concerning professional status, more public sector workers (38.1%) perform their work under time pressure than white-collar workers (30.8%) or blue-collar workers (26.1%). The lowest proportion of employees working under time pressure can be found among apprentices – 16.6% for those working in manual jobs and 15% among apprentices performing non-manual tasks.
Statistics Austria, Arbeitsunfälle und arbeitsbezogene Gesundheitsprobleme. Modul der Arbeitskräfteerhebung 2007 [Occupational accidents and work-related health problems. Supplementary Programme of the Labour Force Survey 2007], Vienna, 2009.
Marion Vogt, Working Life Research Centre (Forschungs- und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt, FORBA)