제 목 : Stress Rises Down Under
일 자 : 1998년 02월
제공처 : safety + Health(GLOBAL Update)
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Late last year in Melbourne, union groups in Australia launched a
national campaign to target stress at work. Supported by the Austra-
lian Council of Trade Unions, the campaign arose as a response to
high unemployment levels and unprecedented retrenchments in the
public sector during the past few years. Jennie George, the organiza-
tion's president, said the campaign will draw attention to the
health " social and economic costs of the rising incidence of stress at
work" resulting from precarious employment, excessive workloads
and unreasonable demands being placed on Australian employees in
the 1990s."
Sue Pennicuik, an occupational health and safety coordinator, said
the week had been organized as a response to request from members
of affiliated unions who consider work stress an urgent issue. "We
want employers to consider if they are pushing employees too far. If this
happens continuously, people become fatigued, which jeopardizes
health and safety," she said.
According to campaign organizers, a stressful workplace increases
the likelihood that employees will sufer a variety of illnesses and con-
ditions, including fatigue, anxiety, headaches, insomnia, dizzrness, panic
attacks, depression, cardiac disorders, backaches and other muscular
syndromes.
Asurvey by the Australian Council of Trade Unions shows that 24
percent of employees have taken time off because of work stress. Of these,
72 percent used ordinary sick leave while only 4 percent claimed work-
ers compention.
Stress claims in the public sector alone cost Australia more than $35
million in 1996. In New South Wales, a 10 percent increase in the incidence
of work stress had occurred from 1991 to 1995.
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