Most Recent SUMER Survey Released by EU-OSHA
Key findings: Job control is decreasing, contacts with the public are increasing, and repetitive and constrained postures are increasing.
The 2010 results of the SUMER Survey have been presented. The study, which was introduced around 20 years ago, reports on workplace safety and health. The 2010 survey focused on trends over the last 20 years, some of which include psychosocial and organizational risk, exposure to carcinogens and more, according to EU-OSHA.
The survey found there has been an increase in noise exposure, an increase in people driving to work, an increase in women being exposed to biological agents, and an increase in hostility between workers. The study also reported that more workers are engaged in manual handling and more workers are experiencing constrained and repetitive postures.
On the health front, the 2010 SUMER reported that young people and workers in the service sector are exposed to physically tolling conditions, there are high exposures to physical and chemical risks in public service, and there are high exposures to chemicals in small and medium enterprises; often, organizational measures are not taken in these companies.
According to the EU-OSHA news release, committees, worker representation, risk assessment, and prevention plans are in place at the enterprise level, but work organizations are not affected by these.
For more information, visit https://osha.europa.eu/en/news/fr-quality-of-work-results-of-the-most-recent-sumer-survey.