The prevalence, seriousness, and causes of teenage work accidents: A gender difference?

Descriptive analysis of occupational accidents in Spain and their relationship with heatwaves

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this work is to carry out a descriptive analysis of occupational accidents and to evaluate the relationship between heatwaves and work accidents in Spain's three most populated provinces: Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.

METHODS

Daily data of work accidents (including for each case: gender, age, date, length of time in the position, type of work, place of accident and duration of medical leave) was collected. A heatwave was defined when daily mean temperatures above the threshold (95th percentile) of the climatological period (1990-2021) were recorded for at least three consecutive days. To estimate the association between daily workplace accidents and heatwave events, we applied a Generalized Additive Model combined with a Distributed Lag Non-linear Model with a quasi-Poisson distribution.

RESULTS

The average annual accident rate was 33.2 work accidents/100,000 employees in Madrid, 35.8 work accidents/100,000 employees in Barcelona and 31.8 work accidents/100,000 employees in Valencia. The total accident rates followed a downward trend between 2005 and 2021. The difference in work accident rates between sex decreased over the studied period (p < 0.005). In the first month of work, the highest casualty rate occurs among construction workers in Madrid and Barcelona, and in primary sector workers in Valencia. Work accidents tend to increase during heatwaves. The highest risk was recorded when considering a cumulative lagged effect of 3 days in Madrid and Barcelona and 5 days in Valencia.

CONCLUSIONS

Since work accidents increase during heatwaves, risk prevention services and public administrations must take special measures to prevent them.

The role of women as change agents in a male-dominated context: Empirical findings from the transport and mobility industry

BACKGROUND

A variety of scholars deal with change agents' role within change processes and highlight their relevance as role models in an organisation, but there are shortcomings. First, research on the impact of change processes has traditionally focused on the impact on employees' (change recipients') wellbeing but only limited attention has been paid to the impact on change agents' own well-being, resilience, and health. Second, studies that reflect on female CAs' well-being are missed.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to enhance our knowledge on the role of women as change agents in analysing their perceived self-efficacy during change and their job satisfaction as job-related dimension of wellbeing.

METHODS

We applied a mixed-method design, conducting two studies based on data from 71 specialists - change agents - working in the transport or mobility departments of seven local authorities participating in the H2020 CIVITAS SUITS project, from six different countries, Greece, Spain, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom, and Lithuania.

RESULTS

The first quantitative survey shows that female change agents may have to perceive higher levels of self-efficacy during organisational change to perceive similar levels of job satisfaction as men. The second qualitative study (focus groups) provides more in-depth explanations of these results. This allows us to derive managerial implications to prevent decreases in women's well-being and strengthen their resilience and health during change.

CONCLUSION

This mixed-method study highlights the role of women as change agents, driving organisational change within male-dominated transport departments of local authorities. Our results show that female change agents need extra support in managing change processes within male-dominated contexts as the transport and mobility field to avoid a decrease in their perceived job satisfaction, their well-being and herewith, their physical and mental health.

Young workers and safety: A critical review and future research agenda

INTRODUCTION

Research on young worker safety often relies on inconsistent definitions of young workers and poorly delineated indicators of occupational safety. This review aims to reconcile these fundamental issues by critically integrating research across disciplines and providing clear directions for future research on young worker safety.

METHOD

We critically review the extant research on young worker safety.

RESULTS

We first reconcile the inconsistent definitions of young workers and specify the indicators of occupational safety used in young worker safety research. We next describe the prevalence of workplace injuries and population-level predictors of these injuries among young workers and then outline other factors that increase young workers' susceptibility to workplace injuries. Finally, we discuss the convergence of many of these issues on family farms-a context commonly studied in young worker safety research.

CONCLUSIONS

Clearer definitions of young workers and indicators of occupational safety can improve the interpretation and comparability of extant research findings. Furthermore, the prevalence of workplace injuries and population-level predictors of injury among young workers are subject to the interactions among age, gender, minority status, and job characteristics. Other factors that increase young workers' susceptibility to injury include young workers' responses to hazardous work, individual differences stemming from young workers' biological and psychological development, managerial attitudes about young workers, and the limited safety training young workers are thus provided, the types of work that young workers typically perform, and the range of social influences on young workers.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

Safety campaigns and safety training should consider interactions among young workers' age, gender, minority status, and job characteristics, rather than considering these features independently.