Boustras, Georgios

Although analysing categorical data from incident investigation reports provides meaningful associations amongst causal factors of incidents, however, to date, no studies considered these associations in designing actionable interventions for safety improvement. We propose a methodology using descriptive analytics and axiomatic design framework. In this study, we have analysed injury, and ‘property-damage’ data, collected for 45 months from a large integrated steel plant. The data are analysed using the contingency table, Cramer's V, Phi coefficients (ϕ) and Fisher's exact test. The ‘wire-making division’ is the most injury-prone. Unsafe acts done by fellow workers are significantly causing injuries in ‘support services’, maintenance and ‘steel-making’. The property-damage cases are mostly reported in ‘steel-making division’, and caused by material-handling, crane-dashing, toxic-chemical, hot-metal and process-related incidents. It is also found that SOP inadequacy and non-compliance are significantly associated with ‘property-damage’ incidents. The key interventions from axiomatic design are as follows. For process-related incidents, regular inspection and maintenance of safety-critical equipment should be done. Safety-critical instrument and alarms can also be used to monitor safe operating limits of processes. Unsafe acts by fellow workers are the result of lack of coordination and communication. So, the management should identify and provide the types of safety training necessary to improve the same. The material-handling related problems can be handled through improved staff competency and communication. To address the SOP related issues, operating procedures should be reviewed, revised and communicated regularly.

The aim of this study was to report the occupational hazards (job risks) of Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) in Greece and investigate possible relationships with burnout and job satisfaction. A sample of N = 185 PHIs total number of 606 (response rate 30.5 %), working in public health services departments nationwide. Data collection was performed in the second and third quarters of 2021, via an online survey. The survey included a ques tionnaire for risk perceptions, presenting risk factors in each risk categories: physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, psychosocial, and organizational, while burnout was measured with Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and job satisfaction with Spector’ s Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), also developed instrument for measured training quality and needs. A novel theoretical model was proposed, which after the results of the findings of this study indicated that for Greek PHIs psychosocial, ergonomic, and organizational risks were more prevalent compared to other risk categories. Moreover, psychosocial risks were significant predictors of burnout, while organizational risks and emotional exhaustion were linked to job satisfaction. PHIs working in rural areas re ported higher perceptions of biological risks and burnout, compared to employees working in urban or semi urban areas. This study contributes to the limited evidence supporting the link between job risks, burnout and job satisfaction adding new information to occupational health and safety for the field of public health inspec tion, which could be exploited to advance the quality of Public Health Services provision. Also reported high training needs especially, protection against biological agents such as coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

The emergency services play an integral role in public health and safety, and operating motor vehicles represents a key activity for these staff. Emergency service workforces are large, and under ever increasing demands. Motor vehicle crashes involving emergency vehicles have been recognized as a serious problem, with emergency and high-risk operating environments routine for these workers. However, given the unique operational structures of these organizations, implementing effective interventions can be difficult. A case study was undertaken with a large emergency service organization in Australia. A mixed methods approach to data collection was used to address the primary aim of exploring the challenges, barriers and facilitators for the uptake of fleet safety initiatives in the emergency service organization. Case study data were collected through document analysis, interviews, observations and site visits. This paper identifies a number of challenges associated with implementing effective interventions in emergency service fleets. Despite knowledge of the specific attributes and risk factors of workplace driving, prevention strategies have traditionally been informed by more general road safety approaches and are driver-centric, which is a similar observation for emergency fleets. Factors contributing to risk, as well as challenges in adhering to safe working practices, were identified across all levels of the risk management framework, particularly at the Agency level (training; management of drivers, including volunteers; fleet purchasing decisions), Regulator level (auditing) and Government level (allocation of resources; response time targets; road rules).

During the last few years new forms of employment have been developed. Part-time employment and employment in rotating periods are on a rise especially in cases of economic slowdown and high unemployment rates, as part of the what is called precarious work. For the case of Greece, that was recently hit by resection and a number fiscal consolidation programs, the number of occupational accidents increased despite high unemployment rates. This paper attempts to investigate the effects that those new flexible employment forms may have on occupational safety and health for cases that when they are forced and violently introduced into the labour market. Analysis of data revealed that the rate of occupational accidents for the case of Greece did not follow the respective reduction of GDP but instead increased according to the significant increase of part-time and work in rotating periods contracts. Both organizational and social factors, such as lack of training, ineffective safety management systems, psychosocial factors and loose community properties that weakens collective bargaining could contribute to that.

This is a cross-sectional, nationwide pilot study conducted in the first quarter of 2021 in Greece. The aim of this study was to report the job risks of public health inspectors in Greece and investigate possible relationships with burnout and job satisfaction. An online survey was created, and the web link was distributed to respondents by email, through the National Public Health Inspectorate Administration, while anonymity was retained. A total number of 78 Public Health Inspectors were contacted and 46 responses were collected (response rate 58.97%). The study found that biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial risks are perceived as most severe in public health inspection. Higher levels of emotional exhaustion were associated with more prevalent ergonomic and psychosocial risks. Job satisfaction was associated with ergonomic risks, but it was most strongly predicted by demographic variables. Perceived quality of job training was found to be negatively related to psychosocial risks. It was concluded that Public Health Inspectors in Greece face a variety of job risks the severity of which contribute to burnout and more specifically to emotional exhaustion. These findings are among the first to address occupational health and safety of Public Health Inspectors in Greece and worldwide and can contribute significantly to the development of the appropriate framework to reduce job risks and emotional exhaustion among employees of Public Health Inspection.