Emily Felt

Understanding sickness presenteeism through the experience of immigrant workers in a context of economic crisis

BACKGROUND Previous economic recessions show that immigrant workers may experience longer periods of unemployment, a situation that may lead employees to presenteeism, the act of working in spite of a health problem. This study explored perceptions about the factors that lead to presenteeism in immigrant workers considering the context of economic crisis. METHODS Six focus group discussions were held (February 2012), with men and women from Colombia, Ecuador, and Morocco (n=44) living in Spain and selected by theoretical sample. A qualitative content analysis was performed. RESULTS Four categories were identified as factors that influence the occurrence of presenteeism in a context of economic crisis: poor employment conditions, fear of unemployment, employer/employee relationship, and difficulties in finding temporary replacement workers. Furthermore, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and mental problems were related to presenteeism. CONCLUSIONS It is important to develop strategies to protect workers from negative working conditions that are associated with deterioration of health.

Occupational risks among immigrant workers in Europe compared to autochthonous workers

Objectives The global increase in geographical mobility among workers has translated into a major demographic change in Europe. Migratory flows have taken place primarily in response to the labour demand of expanding national economies. However, the entry into the labour force has not been easy for migrants. We aim to compare the prevalence of six occupational risk factors among immigrants and autochthonous workers in Europe. Methods Data used comes from the European Working Condition Survey (EWCS-2005, n=29 654 workers from 31 European countries). We examined differential prevalence rates in immigrant and autochthonous workers of: working >5 days/week, regular shift-working, repetitive hand/arm movements, exposure to noise (need to raise voice to talk to people), working in tiring/painful positions and working at very high speeds. Exposure was considered to be those reporting working in each condition almost/all of their working-time. Immigrant was defined as a person without citizenship of the country where the interviews were conducted. Prevalence ratios were adjusted for age, gender and education (adjusted-PR). Results Four of the occupational risks examined were found to be associated with immigration status: repetitive movements (adjusted-PR=1.4; 95% CI 1.2 to 1.5), noise-exposure (1.5; 1.3 to 1.8), working in tiring/painful positions (1.4; 1.2 to 1.6) and very high speeds (1.5; 1.2 to 1.6); the exceptions: shift working and working >5 days/week. Conclusions Immigrant workers in Europe are faced with additional occupational risks compared to autochthonous workers. Notwithstanding the limitations of the dataset in regards to the low sample size of the migrant group, the findings suggest that special attention must be paid to their working conditions.

Comparison of occupational safety exposure in foreign- and Spanish-born workers in Spain (ITSAL project)

Objectives Compare the prevalence of foreign and Spanish-born workers in occupational safety risk exposures. Methods The ITSAL (Inmigracion, Trabajo, Salud) Project explores occupational health conditions of foreign-born residents working in the four Spanish municipalities with the largest foreign-born population. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 1841 foreign-born workers, from Colombia, Romania, Ecuador and Morocco, and 509 Spanish-born workers. Data on sociodemographic variables and self-reported occupational exposure was collected through face-to-face interviews. Safety risks explored include working all or almost all of the time exposed to high noise levels, at height, with cutting objects, on slippery surfaces, handling inflammable products, at extreme temperatures and while breathing dust or toxic gases. ,Findings were expressed as prevalence ratios (PRs) with 95% CIs adjusted by sex, age and education, and stratified by professional category (manual, non-manual) and economic sector (agricultural, services, industry, construction). Results Immigrants were more likely to report working at height (1.38, 1.05 to 1.82), with cutting objects (1.22, 1.03 to 1.46), at extreme temperatures (1.95, 1.51 to 2.53) and while breathing dust or toxic gases (1.28, 1.03 to 1.60). After stratifying, this pattern is maintained only in non-manual workers and those in the service sector, while in the other categories there were no differences or prevalence was higher for natives. Conclusions 40% of the migrant population works in the service sector. Although there are limitations regarding differential possibilities in risk perception, results suggest that special attention must be paid to these workers. Understanding the mechanism that explains differential exposure may provide avenues for action.