Occupational Hazards Associated with the Quality and Training Needs of Public Health Inspectors in Greece

Abstract

In terms of evidence of the strong links between occupational risks, training needs, and quality, research on the occupational risks and their consequences to the general wellbeing of public health inspectors has been very limited, despite the fact that the nature of the work presents a range of threats to physical and psychological health. The aim of this study was to report the risks presented to public health inspectors (PHIs’) and to investigate their possible relationships with training needs. The study was a cross-sectional, nationwide investigation in Greece, conducted in one phase during the third quarter of 2021. For data collection, an online survey was created, and the web link was distributed to respondents by email. A number of participants were contacted, providing N = 185 responses, which accounted for 27% (185/684) of the population under study. Job risks were measured using a novel instrument, classification, a checklist for risk assessment, and an instrument was developed for measuring training needs and training quality. The findings indicated that 87% of participants provided high ratings in response to psychosocial risks and ergonomic risks, followed by 78% for organizational risks and 74% for biological risks. Physical risks and chemical risks were 55% and 56%, respectively. For organizational risks (β = −0.282, p = 0.001) and perceived training quality (β = 0.195, p = 0.002), 65.41% reported high training requirements. PHIs face a variety of job risks, these findings were among the first to address the occupational health and safety of PHIs worldwide. Adding new information to PHI occupational health and safety could be used to advance the quality of public health services provision.

Keywords

• public health inspectors
• public health services
• occupational hazards
• occupational safety and health