The combined number of dierent physi- cal and psychosocial exposures has been suggested to be important when assess- ing bodily fatigue in workers (Bláfoss et al., 2019). Furthermore, a correlation has been suggested between musculoskeletal pain and fatigue (Daneshmandi et al., 2017; Heidarimoghadam et al., 2019). There is evi- dence that managing specific physical work demands and having control over one’s work can reduce musculoskeletal pain (Oliv et al., 2017, 2019). It is important that EHPs review the control they have over their work and examine the dierent types of physical and psychosocial risk factors to reduce the occur- rence of musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. Impact of the Pandemic on the Environmental Health Workforce The EH training of EHPs and their experience in preventing and managing disease epidemics made them an essential group of health special- ists who were deployed during the pandemic. The majority of EHPs who participated in our study indicated that their past education, train- ing, and experience prepared them for their role during the pandemic. A significant per- centage of participants, however, expressed that they were concerned about being exposed to COVID-19 in the course of their work. Further, almost one half of the respondents (48.9%) reported that they were concerned about work- ing in a potentially high-risk COVID-19 envi- ronment while at the same time maintaining their personal responsibilities. There are dierent psychological and so- ciodemographic factors that can influence perceived susceptibility to diseases (Com- modari et al., 2020). In a study conducted by Falco et al. (2021), the perceived risk of con- tracting COVID-19 at work was positively as- sociated with emotional exhaustion. It is pos- sible that the concerns of EHPs contracting the virus in the course of their work are as- sociated with high psychosocial and physical work demands. In a survey by NEHA (2020), EHPs reported being concerned with the risk of harm from the virus and a significant per- centage of the workforce reported being emo- tionally exhausted and understaed. In addition, more than one third of par- ticipants (35.1%) indicated that their will- ingness to go to work was aected by the pandemic. A similar finding was reported for physicians from Bangladesh, where 21.4%
Overarching Focus Group Discussion Themes and Illustrative Quotations ( N = 7) TABLE 2 continued
Focus Group Discussion Question How would you describe your current employer’s approach to occupational health and safety (OHS)?
Theme
Illustrative Quotation From Focus Group
General OHS system in place but not specific to EH work
• There are general OHS policy and management systems in place where I work. • OHS is taken seriously, but there is a lack of task-specific OHS procedures and processes. • I noticed a sudden OHS priority at my workplace during the COVID pandemic. • OHS management is more of a bottom-up approach—you have to ask for what you need, or it doesn’t happen. • I have to say there is a lack of effective OHS training, which is evident among new officers who don’t know how to assess risk. • Workplace incidents are not reported. EH scientists often joke about an incident instead of reporting it. • Some EH scientists take unnecessary risks. For example, they will go out on their own when they know there is a potential risk. • We need to put OHS on the staff meeting agenda, make it part of the daily operation. • There is always an urgency to get work done and OHS is an afterthought.
What do you see as barriers to the implementation of health and safety in your job and within the EH profession more widely?
Poor OHS culture
it has been suggested that jobs with overtime schedules are associated with higher injury hazards (Dembe et al., 2005). Organizations that employ EHPs should con- sider the psychosocial well-being of EHPs and support an environment where sta feel able to safely report and discuss mental health issues and how their mental health aects their per- formance and well-being. Additionally, support from colleagues and supervisors in the work- place might help reduce job stress (Mensah, 2021). Therefore, it is important that senior management and operational managers and supervisors be trained to recognize and respond to signs of mental stress within the workforce. Tiredness was the most common work symptom reported and resulted from physical work demands. Workplace fatigue is a major issue in the modern workplace due to high- demand jobs (Caldwell et al., 2019; Sadegh- niiat-Haghighi & Yazdi, 2015). The multifac- eted nature of the roles and responsibilities of EHPs expose them to tough physical and psy- chosocial work environments. Work-related musculoskeletal pain is associated with both environmental and psychosocial work fac- tors (Baek et al., 2018; Bláfoss et al., 2019; Heidarimoghadam et al., 2019).
added that “mental health concern at work is overlooked and not well understood.” The issues of work stress, emotional exhaus- tion, and burnout have been reported by the EHP workforce in the U.S. (NEHA, 2020). Similar findings have been reported among the EHP workforce in Australia, where burn- out has been found to be a major hazard due to work settings that have a high demand for EHPs, are low in resources, and lack manage- ment support (Oosthuizen et al., 2022). Of participants, almost one third (30.4%) indicated that they are sometimes or often pressured to work long hours. Moreover, younger participants were more likely to report being pressured to work long hours. While anecdotal evidence suggests that younger workers are more likely to express dissatisfaction about elements of work and the working environment, there is also evidence that younger workers experience work stress- ors dierently (Sawang & Newton, 2018). Thus, there is a need to explore the stress- ors of younger employees in the contempo- rary work environment (Wang et al., 2021). There is also a negative association between working long hours and health (Chu, 2021; World Health Organization, 2021). Further,
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January/February 2024 • Journal of Environmental Health
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