A Survey for the Introduction of New Parameters for the Assessment of Work-Related Stress in Agriculture

The Legislative Decree 81/2008 and its subsequent amendments, require the assessment of stress-inducing factors for workers, which places employees in potentially dangerous situations, as they may be subject to injury. The numerous elements enabling the assessment of the aforementioned risk are, however, relevant to all work sectors, and hence non-specific. The aim of this work is to develop, by means of a survey, new specific evaluation parameters to be introduced for the agricultural sector. Data acquisition was carried out through the administration, to a sample of over one hundred farms distributed across Italy, of an online form. In the survey, 28 questions were sampled, including new proposals and questions that had been revised for the agricultural sector. Here, the participants could indicate, if what was being proposed was a new stress factor found in their work environment; or if the proposed indicator was appropriate for the assessment of work-related stress in agriculture. Approximately 58% of the population surveyed fell into the “Employer” category and more than half had a completed secondary school education. Moreover, the results from companies located in the North of Italy were predominant. The new parameters that were introduced, generated a high degree of interest in the sample which was evaluated: in fact, of all the questions, approximately half expressed a favourable opinion on the introduction of the proposed parameters.