Role of working conditions in the explanation of occupational inequalities in work injury: findings from the national French SUMER survey

Abstract

BackgroundSocial inequalities in work injury have been observed but explanations are still missing. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the contribution of working conditions in the explanation of social inequalities in work injury in a national representative sample of employees.MethodsThe study was based on the cross-sectional sample of the national French survey SUMER 2010 including 46,962 employees, 26,883 men and 20,079 women. The number of work injuries within the last 12 months was studied as the outcome. Occupation was used as a marker of social position. Psychosocial work factors included various variables related to the classical job strain model, psychological demands, decision latitude, social support, and other understudied variables related to reward, job insecurity, job promotion, esteem, working time and hours and workplace violence. Occupational exposures of chemical, biological, physical and biomechanical nature were also studied. Weighted age-adjusted Poisson regression analyses were performed.ResultsOccupational gradients were observed in the exposure of most psychosocial work factors and occupational exposures. Strong occupational differences in work injury were found, blue-collar workers being more likely to have work injury. Chemical, biological, physical and biomechanical exposures contributed to explain the occupational differences in work injury substantially. Noise, thermic constraints, manual materials handling, postural/articular constraints and vibrations had significant contributions. Psychosocial work factors also contributed to explain the differences especially among women.ConclusionPrevention policies oriented toward chemical, biological, physical, biomechanical and psychosocial work exposures may contribute to reduce the magnitude of occupational differences in work injury.

Factores sociodemográficos y laborales relacionados con la exposición laboral a riesgos psicosociales por ocupación en España. Proyecto MatEmESp

“…También se ha evidenciado previamente que en clases sociales más bajas se concentran las peores condiciones psicosociales 12,22 , con la excepción de las demandas psicológicas, que se concentran en las clases sociales más altas 22 . Estudios previos también han encontrado relación entre riesgos psicosociales y edad, los más jóvenes tienen menor influencia y mayor inseguridad y los mayores menor apoyo de los compañeros 23 ; país de origen: las empleadas de hogar inmigrantes tienen peor contexto psicosocial 24 ; situación de empleo: asalariados menor influencia y más demandas 18 ; trabajo temporal: altas demandas, menor control y mayor inseguridad 25 ; jornada parcial, menor apoyo de los compañeros, influencia y mayor inseguridad 18 y jornadas más largas, mayores demandas pero mayor influencia 26 .…”

Working conditions and depression in the French national working population: Results from the SUMER study

“…Ethical approval was granted by the French ethics committees. Our team has already published a large number of studies using the previous versions of the SUMER survey, and a selection of these publications are presented in the references [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

The association between dependent self-employment and self-reported depression/anxiety and sleep disorder in South Korea

“…These risk factors such as job insecurity, long working hours and low or unstable income can cause a variety of health problems such as cardiovascular diseases [8910], mental health problems [1112131415161718], injury [1920], and sickness absence [21]. In particular, mental health problems are very common and important health issues in South Korea.…”