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Survey on work environment of white-collar workers
A recent survey on the work environment of white-collar workers
revealed thatmost of the companies surveyed are in breach of the
Work Environment Act. A
particularly alarming finding concerns the shortcomings in
relation to the poor
identification of physical and psychosocial risks at work
leading to strain.Furthermore, more than one out of five companies
does not comply with theSwedish law, which requires measures to
identify psychosocial risks in the workenvironment.
About the survey
In 2007, the Swedish Union for Technical and Clerical Employees
(SvenskaIndustritjnstemannafrbundet, Sif) and the Salaried
Employees Union(Handelstjnstemannafrbundet , HTF), which merged to
form theUnionentradeunion on 1 January 2008, carried out the second
work environment survey. Sifhad conducted the first survey of this
kind in 2006.
The work environment survey aims to achieve a better
understanding of howworkplace safety representatives and trade
union members view their workenvironment and how they consider that
theSystematic Work EnvironmentManagement (353Kb PDF)functions
within their workplaces. The Swedish WorkEnvironment Authority
(Arbetsmiljverket,AV) has issued the rules forsystematic work
environment management, which set out the basic elementsrequired in
this regard. The AV guidelines explain and define the procedures
thatemployers must follow in order to meet their work environment
responsibilities.
On the basis that work environment surveys will be conducted
annually, it will bepossible to chart trends in working conditions
over time and, thus, take actionaimed at improving the work
environment in Swedish workplaces.
The work environment survey sample is representative of the
500,000 white-collar workers among the trade union members. In all,
about 2,400 workplacesafety representatives and 1,847 trade union
members participated in the study.Survey data were collected
through a web-based questionnaire between 21August and 7 September
2007.
Main survey findingsLack of systems supervision
In the majority of cases, the deficiencies that emerged from the
survey reflectthe lack ofsystems supervisionof the work environment
and the SystematicWork Environment Management. The expression
systems supervision denotesthe approach to overseeing the work
environment which is focused onmonitoring the employers routines,
resources, plans of action and organisationfor dealing with health
and safety matters. Therefore, it represents a keyelement of the
procedure for ensuring compliance with the 1977Work
Environment Act(Arbetsmiljlagen,AML (251Kb PDF)). In this
respect, systems
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supervision is the prerequisite for achieving a good work
environment, accordingto the trade unions.
The survey findings reveal that only 54% of the workplaces are
conducting asystems supervision of the work environment a figure
which is remarkably low.
Other survey findings indicate that two out of three workers
spend more thanhalf of their working time in front of a computer
screen. Some 23% of theworkplace safetyrepresentativeshave not
received any training in eitherhealthand safetyat the workplace or
systematic work environment management.
Identifying risks leading to work-related strain
According to the study, shortcomings in systems supervision
relate, in particular,to those companies which do not carry out any
surveys to identify physical andpsychosocial risks factors. Only
27% of the companies surveyed conduct suchsurveys required by the
Work Environment Act, in order to identify physical risks
associated with work-related strain. At the same time, about 82%
of theworkplace safety representatives report that companies also
neglect to carry outsurveys to identify work-related psychosocial
risk factors.
Regarding the identification of work-related risk factors, 20%
of trade unionmembers report that their employer conducts surveys
to identify work-relatedphysical risk, while only 12% of trade
union members report that their employerdoes the same to identify
psychosocial risks. This finding highlights the generalperception
that ill-health is mainly associated with physical risks; hence,
theidentification of psychosocial risks is neglected.
Furthermore, only about 50% of the safety representatives
consider theirworkplace to have a good or a very good psychosocial
work environment. Inlight of these findings, recommendations were
made that employers and tradeunions should pay greater attention to
the psychosocial dimension of the workenvironment.
Work-related problems
The survey reveals that 54% of the Sif members have, to some
extent, sufferedfrom pain in the back, neck, shoulders and joints
during the year preceding thework environment survey. It is assumed
that these pains are related to the work
environment. Half of these cases were not reported to the
management, andnine out of 10 companies did not notify the Swedish
Social Insurance Agency(Frskringskassan) of any cases of
work-related ill-health.
Impact of company size on work environment
A clear correlation exists between company size and the extent
to which thesystematic work environment management operates: the
larger the company,the better the work environment. The survey
findings indicate that someimprovements in the work environment can
be perceived in medium-sizedcompanies employing between 10 and 50
staff. In larger workplaces with more
than 100 employees, the most common improvements include action
plans, riskand consequence analyses and documented routines in
relation to the work
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environment. Moreover, the access to healthcare and
rehabilitation facilitiesprovided by companies is generally better
in larger workplaces.
