مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد شیوع و پیش بینی استرس شغلی در میان کارگران معدن – امرالد ۲۰۱۷

Stress at work is associated with significant economic and human costs, as it leads to an increase in increasing absenteeism, decrease in job satisfaction, and deterioration in the health of workers (Leka and Jain, 2010). Occupational stress is a known health risk for a range of psychological, behavioral, and medical disorders and diseases (Quick and Henderson, 2016). There is a tendency to neglect the physical environmental factors despite the fact that such factors can influence the worker not only physically, but also psycho-socially (Levi, 1984). Contemporary research on stress in the work environment typically focuses on psychosocial factors that affect job performance, strain and employee health, and does not address the issues of work-related stress and the physical work environment in which the work is performed (Vischer, 2007). Research suggests that the characteristics of the physical environment of the workplace do have a marked and measureable impact upon a worker’s well-being and behavior (Hassard and Cox, 2017). Apart from the working environment, mental stress is also most heavily concentrated among workers with lower income, lower education, fewer skills, and less prestigious jobs than their peers (NIOSH, 1988). Certain population sub-groups are at higher risk of mental disorders because of their greater exposure and vulnerability to unfavorable social, economic, and environmental circumstances (WHO, 2014). Quarry workers constitute such a vulnerable group that suffers from a poor socio-economic condition (Mathur, 2015) and is constantly exposed to potentially dangerous environments (Pule, 2011). Quarry workers in India face many different kinds of abuse to their socio-economic status, and physical health, apart from the risk of exploitation by third persons like doctors and mine contractors (Ahmad, 2015), which may adversely affect their mental health. However, despite the miners being prone to such vulnerability, there is very limited research information on mental health issues concerning miners (McLean, 2011), and in fact, no such research is available at all in India. The state of Rajasthan is producing about 90 percent of the sandstone in India (IBM, 2015), with over 2.5 million mine workers engaged in this task (Dutt, 2005). A majority of these mines are in the unorganized sector (NIMH, 2011). All the people who work in mines have a high potential of exposure to various physical, chemical, mechanical, biological and psychosocial risks (Pule, 2011). Irrespective of whether mining is done over the ground or below the sub-surface, extreme physical work conditions, stemming from, for example, temperature and humidity, lead to stress (Szabo et al., 1983). However, mining, if undertaken in the organized sector, ensures safe and healthy working conditions (Sishodiya and Guha, 2013). On the other hand, working conditions in stone quarries, which are largely of an unorganized nature, are poor due to non-compliance with health and safety standards (NIMH, 2011). Thus, mining in India represents a highly exploitative situation, with all kinds of violations of the law and breach of human rights (Dutt, 2005).