We all spend long hours in 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 some extent our degree of happiness. For example, monotonous tasks can lead to 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 this.

What is occupational health

There are many factors that can affect our well-being at work, whether because of the tasks we perform, because we are in a job that is not fulfilling or because of poor relationships with our colleagues.

For this reason, occupational psychologists and other professionals in the field of occupational risk prevention have taken an interest in the health of workers and in finding out what conditions we encounter 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 of the absence of illness, in other words, the absence of illness alone is not health. Furthermore, health goes beyond being physically fit, but we must take into account our emotional and social health in order to have a healthy life.

Considering this definition, the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations dealing with labour and industrial relations matters, stated that occupational health “aims to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers, irrespective of their occupation, and thus to protect workers against health hazards, to keep them in employment consistent with their psychological and physiological fitness and to prevent any damage to their well-being”.

Factors affecting workers’ occupational health

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 absenteeism, more sick leave, etc.

The elements that can affect the well-being of a worker can appear from different sources; for example, from the workplace, what is known as working conditions (taking on excessive weight or the level of noise or work overload), from the organisation (for example, the working day or the communication of superiors) or on a psychosocial level (for example, expectations or the socio-economic situation that the worker is experiencing at any given time).

Now, what factors affect workers’ health? The health of workers can be affected by the presence of different elements. If we talk about the workplace, we can talk about different risk factors, which are those that can diminish a worker’s well-being. According to this, a classification into 5 groups is usually made

1. Safety Conditions

This group refers to materials that can cause an accident at work .

  • Electrical risks.
  • Fire risk .

    • .

  • Handling and transport.
  • Working machines.
  • Work surface.

2. Physical work environment

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

  • Noise.
  • Temperature.
  • Vibrations.
  • Lighting.
  • Radiation .

3. Polluting factors

Polluting agents, which are agents external to the person, can be chemical (e.g. gases) or biological (e.g. 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 the latter, 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 level. The leadership style, working hours or the relationship with colleagues .

How to tell if you are in a toxic job

A toxic job is often referred to when the work climate is not suitable for work. When we talk about work climate we are referring to the environment at work and how it affects the workers. In other words, here we are talking about working conditions, but attention is also paid to interpersonal relations, the expectations of the workers, the possibilities of growth 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 has, 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 welfare of workers, which is why is often spoken of as different areas in the prevention of occupational risks , and therefore the work of different professionals.

In order to minimize the risk, we work with different knowledge and techniques: safety at work (application of measures to minimize risks. For example, through standards, industrial hygiene (cleaning, sampling and measuring contaminants, etc.), occupational medicine (study of work-related diseases), psychosociology (social and psychological factors associated with occupational health) and ergonomics (conditions of adaptation to the workplace).