Questionnaire surveys on health and working conditions: development of an instrument for risk assessment in companies

Periodic Occupational Health Surveys (POHS) are frequently used by occupati onal health and safety services in the Netherlands as a risk assessment ins trument. These surveys include a questionnaire on work and health. Systemat ic attention is paid in this questionnaire to a broad range of working cond itions and health complaints. In this article a method is presented to iden tify and evaluate work risks and health problems in groups of workers. Work ing conditions and health in any given company or department are assessed b y comparing questionnaire data from its worker populations with data from o ne or more reference populations. Significant differences are interpreted a s signals for both adverse working conditions and health problems. Consider ations and choices with regard to the technical, operational and strategic quality of the method are elucidated. Probabilities of alpha- and beta-erro rs, choice of significance levels, and selection of reference populations a re dealt with. Finally, a way of presentation of the results is shown. The method is considered to be Dart of a broader approach toward risk assessmen t. We recommend the combined use of questionnaire results and other availab le information, such as workplace surveys and sickness absence data. Questi onnaires about work and health can be seen as one step in a multi-phase des ign: like in many diagnostic processes, the latter phases can enhance the p recision of previous results. Recommendations are made for validating and e valuating this instrument.