Occupational Health: What Factors Affect The Health Of Workers?
We all spend long hours at our work, so it becomes a very important part of our lives. In this sense, problems at work affect our daily lives, and determine to a certain extent our degree of happiness. For example, monotonous tasks can cause stress, which can affect our daily lives and cause psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression if this situation is prolonged.
What do we mean when we talk about occupational health? What factors affect our well-being at work? In the following lines we explain it to you.
There are many factors that can affect our well-being at work, whether due to the tasks we perform, being in a job that does not fulfill us or due to poor relationships with colleagues.
For this reason, work psychologists and other professionals in the field of occupational risk prevention have been interested in the health of workers and in finding out what conditions we find in the company or in the position in which we work. affect our physical and psychological health If you want to know what types of health exist, you can read the article “The 10 types of health and their characteristics”
There are different types of health, and occupational health is one of them. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined general health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.” Therefore, we speak of well-being and not the absence of illness, that is, the absence of illness alone is not health. Furthermore, health goes beyond being in good physical shape; we must take into account our emotional and social health to have a healthy life.
Considering this definition, the International Labor Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with matters relating to work and industrial relations, stated that occupational health “aims to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers, regardless of their profession; and in this way protect the worker from risks to his health, keep him in a job that suits his psychological and physiological abilities and prevent any damage that affects his well-being.
Factors that affect the occupational health of workers
Occupational health should not only matter to the worker, because When an employee is not well at work, the company will also suffer the consequences : lower performance, greater work presenteeism, more sick leave, etc.
The elements that can affect the well-being of a worker can appear from different sources; for example, from the job, what is known as working conditions (excessive weight gain or noise level or work overload), of the organization (for example, the work day or communication with superiors) or at a psychosocial level (for example, expectations or the socioeconomic situation experienced by the worker). at one point).
Now, what factors affect the health of workers? The health of workers can be affected by the presence of different elements. If we talk about the job, we can talk about different risk factors, which are those that can reduce the well-being of a worker. According to this, a classification is usually made into 5 groups.
1. Security Conditions
This group refers to the materials that can cause a work accident
This group includes those factors of the natural environment that may appear modified in the work environment and that affect the health of workers.
3. Polluting factors
Pollutants, which are agents external to the person, can be chemical (for example, gases) or biological (for example, fungi).
4. Workload
It has to do with physical and mental efforts. In the first we can highlight the handling of loads, repeated movements, etc. In the seconds, the monotony or responsibility that falls on a worker
5. Organizational factors
Organizational factors have to do with the structure and organization of work, which affect the physical, mental and social levels. Leadership style, work schedule or relationship with colleagues
Frequent problems that affect occupational health
These are some of the most common elements that affect occupational health from the workers:
How to know if you are in a toxic job
We usually talk about a toxic job when the work environment is not appropriate for working. When we talk about work environment we are referring to the environment at work and how it affects workers. That is, here we are talking about working conditions, but attention is also paid to interpersonal relationships, employee expectations, growth possibilities within the company and other factors such as remuneration, recognition or the degree of involvement of an employee with the company.
If you want to know what characteristics a toxic work environment presents, you can read the article “12 signs that indicate that you are in a toxic work environment”
Occupational health is a multifactorial phenomenon
As you have seen, there are many variables that influence the well-being of workers, that is why We usually talk about different areas in the prevention of occupational risks and therefore the work of different professionals.
To minimize the risk, we work with different knowledge and techniques: occupational safety (application of measures to minimize risks. For example, through standards, industrial hygiene (cleaning, sampling and measuring contaminating agents, etc.), medicine of work (study of work-related diseases), psychosociology (social and psychological factors associated with occupational health) and ergonomics (conditions of adaptation to the workplace).
PYM Business: a powerful ally to promote occupational health
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By using the services of PYM Business you will be able to receive completely individualized and specialized attention for leadership deficits, lack of team cohesion, work stress and psychological disorders of all kinds.
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