Occupational health: what affects the health of workers?

We all spend long hours in our work, so it becomes a very important part of our life. In this sense, problems at work affect our daily lives, and in a certain way determine 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 continues.

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.

• Related article: "Work and organizational psychology: a profession with a future"

What is occupational health

There are many factors that can affect our well-being at work, either due to the tasks we perform, being in a job that does not fill us or due to a bad relationship with colleagues.

For this reason, occupational psychologists and other professionals in the field of occupational risk prevention have interested in the health of workers and to find 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 just the absence of disease." Therefore, we speak of well-being and not the absence of disease, that is, the absence of disease by itself is not health. In addition, health goes beyond enjoying a good physical shape, but we must take into account our emotional and social health to have a healthy life.

Considering this definition, the International Labor Organization (O.I.T.), a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with matters related to work and relationships labor, affirmed 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 the risks to his health, keep him in a job that appropriate to your psychological and physiological aptitudes and to prevent any damage that affects your wellness".

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, higher presenteeism work, 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 (taking on excessive weight or noise level or work overload), of the organization (for example, the work day or the communication from superiors) or at a psychosocial level (for example, expectations or the socioeconomic situation that the worker lives in a Given moment).

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 an accident at work.

• Electrical hazards.
• Risk of fire.
• Handling and transportation.
• Working machines.
• Work surface

2. Physical environment of work

This group includes those natural environment factors that may appear modified in the work environment and that affect the health of workers.

• Noise.
• Temperature.
• Vibrations
• Illumination.
• Radiation.

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 former we can highlight the handling of loads, repeated movements, etc. In seconds 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 level. Leadership style, work schedule, or relationship with peers.

How to know if you are in a toxic job

A toxic job is often talked about when the work environment is not appropriate for work. 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, worker 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 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 there is often talk of different areas in the prevention of occupational risks, and therefore the work of different professionals.

To minimize the risk, different knowledge and techniques are used: safety at work (application of measures to minimize risks. For example, through standards, industrial hygiene (cleaning, taking samples and measurements of pollutants, etc.), occupational medicine (study of work-related illnesses), psychosociology (social and psychological factors associated with occupational health) and ergonomics (conditions of adaptation to the job job).