İş Güvenliği Uzmanlarının Çalışma Yaşamı Özellikleri, İş Stresi ve İş Güvencesizliğinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

Karakaya, T., Assessment of Working Life Characteristics, Job Stress and Job Insecurity of Occupational Safety Experts, Hacettepe University Graduate School of Health Sciences Occupational Health Master Thesis, Ankara, 2018. The primary role of occupational safety experts (briefly experts) is maintaining technical services for occupational safety and health. Aim of this study is to evaluate some sociodemographic and working life characteristics and to determine the job stress and job insecurity levels, and to contribute to the studies which would help to improve working conditions of the experts registered in İSG-KATİP data system. This descriptive study was performed with 1769 experts who had been registered in İSG-KATİP as of 18 May 2017. The data were collected in 11 weeks by using a self-reported electronic survey. Job stress and insecurity were assessed by the Swedish Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire and Job Insecurity Questionnaire respectively. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software was used for statistical analyses. Nearly four-fifths of the study group (79.6%) were males. The mean age of the study group was 34.2 ± 7.8 and almost half of them (49.2%) were in 30-39 range. The mean working duration of the participants was 2.6 ± 1.6 years. More than half of the participants (55.7%) held bachelor’s degree. Two-thirds of the study group (64.0%) were working in Joint Health and Safety Units (Ortak Sağlık Güvenlik Birimi in Turkish, OSGB) and 59.4% had a job contract with indefinite duration. Mean daily working hours was 7.19 ± 2.93. More than one-fifth of the participants (25.9%) were in high job stress group and 24.4% were in low job stress group. Compared to the others, experts working in OSGBs, working as experts in their free times, preferring a different job with same income than working as an occupational safety expert, having difficulty in using authority, or conceiving health problems depending on working conditions had high level of perceived job stress. High quantitative job insecurity and high job stress were found in 16% of the participants, and high qualitative job insecurity level and high job stress level were found in 8%. Regulations on working environment, working conditions, and job insecurity of experts are needed to reduce job stress level and perceived job insecurity. Keywords: Occupational health and safety, occupational safety expert, job stress, job insecurity.