European Working Conditions Survey 1996

The second European survey on working conditions is a questionnaire-based survey, involving face-to-face interviews conducted outside the workplace. The questionnaire covers all aspects of working conditions: physical environment, workplace design, working hours, work organisation, social relationships at the workplace and highlights how stress and musculo-skeletal disorders are among the rising occupational hazards in the EU. The survey underlines a need for a more holistic and multidisciplinary approach to tackle health and safety issues in Europe. Above all, it clearly indicates that health issues must be central to an organisation's structure and development.

This publication focuses on the impact of employment status on workers' health. It presents and analyses data on the 15 Member States of the European Union, collected from the Foundation's Second European Survey on Working Conditions, Eurostat, and OECD. It also offers recommendations on how to carry out further research into the relationship between health and different types of employment.

A summary of the results of research on the relationship between employment status and health. A bibliographic review was undertaken and data from the 1996 Second European Survey on Working Conditions complemented by Eurostat data was also analysed.

Precarious employment not only covers employees with fixed term and temporary contracts (and some categories of self-employed workers) but also workers with low incomes and/or short working hours. This publication describes the extent, consequences and reasons for precarious employment in order to provide policy makers with the quantified information they need.

This summary is based on an analysis of findings of the second European survey on working conditions conducted in 1996. The survey findings show that stress and musculo-skeletal disorders are the main health risks at work and highlights the need for a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach to the prevention of occupational risks in Europe.

This document summarises the findings of the second European survey on working conditions with regard to gender differences in the workplace. With these reports the Foundation hopes to provide policy makers with a better understanding of the problems to overcome in order to promote gender sensitive workplaces.