EPA-0056 - Occupational stress impact on mental health status of forest workers

Abstract

Stress is a kind of physical or psychological exhaustion caused by actual or superficial problems. When pressures in working environment build up, a considerable impact on body and mind can be developed. This condition may lead the worker in to a harmful accident and bring about a dangerous situation. In many countries forestry is one of the toughest and most difficult types of occupation. Working in forest is intensive and involves a high degree of risk. Operating chainsaw and skidder are known as two most stressful occupations in forest. In order to study effect of occupational stress on mental health of forest workers, a research was conducted on the workers of two companies Mazandaran Wood and Paper Manufactory and Nekachoob Wood Technology using GHQ-28 questionnaire (General Health Questionnaire). Furthermore, in order to investigate and compare forest workers under impact with greater details, control group was also considered. Kroskal-Wallis test showed that there was a significant difference between target and contro groups in terms of mental health at 99 percent statistical levels. Working conditions and occupational stress had negative impact on mental health of both chainsaw and skidder operators so seriously that they showed symptoms like anxiety, nervousness, lack of sleep, etc.

Mental Workload, Occupational Fatigue and Musculoskeletal Disorders of Forestry Professionals

“…On the contrary, our finding may be due to the fact that only 13.7% of the subjects were obese and 45.1% had moderate weight. Similarly, other risk factors such as smoking (Bos et al 2006, Boshuizen et al 1993, lack of insurance (Lotfalian et al 2012) and educational level did not have a strong association with MSD prevalence in our subjects. The forest workers in our case did not have any kind of vocational education.…”

“…Many factors contribute to mental fatigue. An earlier study by Lotfalian et al (2012) provides very interesting background information on the working conditions in the area. More than half of forest operators (57.4%) and skidder operators (53.7%) were found to experience increased levels of mental stress.…”

“…Disappointment is a common feature of forest workers in many countries such as Indonesia (Gandaseca and Yoshimura 2001), Turkey (Yoshimura and Acar 2004) and Greece (Tsioras 2012). Lack of insurance has been previously linked with job dissatisfaction by Lotfalian et al (2012). Hagberg et al (1995) defined the psychoorganizational factors as »the worker's subjective perceptions of organizational factors, which in turn are the objective aspects of how the work is organized, supervised and carried out«.…”

General Health status of workers among different workplaces in Qom Province, Iran

“…Based on this tool, Noorbala et al reported that between 11.9% and 23.8% of the Iranian adult population suffers mental disorders that require mental health care ( 38 ). Some studies also have focused on Iranian workers, such as forest workers ( 39 ), Petrochemical shift workers ( 40 ), Metal workers ( 41 , 42 ), Miners ( 15 ), and health care workers ( 43 ). However, these studies generally focused on a specific industry.…”

Prevalence of burnout among forest workers in Mazandaran, Iran

“…In a study Lotfalian et al (2012) assessed the mental health in stressful jobs including skidder drivers and chainsaw operators in the forestry sector and they compared these results with a control group which showed a significant difference between the two groups. According to this study, mental health in stressful jobs was found to be lower than in the control group (P < 0.001) (Lotfalian et al 2012).…”