A survey of
the working environment in Estonia
All surveys will be conducted in accordance with
the provisions of the ICC/E.S.O.M.A.R. International Code of Marketing and
Social Research Practice.
Approach
The assessment of the quality of the working
environment (occupational health and safety) in Estonian undertakings is based
on two surveys: survey no. 1 is an interview of employers (top executives of
undertakings); survey no. 2 focuses on interviewing workers.
The objective of survey no. 1 is to find out
employers' assessment of:
- compliance of the
working environment with the provisions of the Occupational Health and
Safety Act (EU standards);
- various risk factors
in the field of occupational health and safety in the undertaking;
- costs incurred in
minimising risk factors / future costs;
- level of measures that
have been adopted / will be adopted;
- involvement of
occupational health services, etc. in analysing working conditions in
undertakings;
- incidence of sickness
of workers related to the nature of work and work-related health risks;
- undertaking's past /
current activities in carrying out a medical examination of workers;
- need of investments
for improving working conditions;
- need for dialogue with
workers in the field of occupational health and dialogue in practice.
Methodology
The survey no. 1 will be carried out on the basis
of standard CATI interviews from the CATI-centre of Emor, a market researcher.
The questionnaire and the proportion of the sample will be prepared by a
special software Ci3 WinCATI.
Interviews in undertakings will be conducted with
the managing director (in large undertakings, respective head of a structural
unit). Interviews will be based on a four-page questionnaire.
The respondents will be selected from a sample base
drawn from the joint register of operating undertakings registered in the
Commercial Register and the Estonian Enterprise Register. The undertakings'
fields of business will be represented proportionally in the sample. As to the
number of workers, non-proportional sampling will ensure that larger
undertakings is also represented and that their data can be analysed
separately. The data will then be weighted by the size of the undertaking
according to the respective proportion in the standard sample.
The plan is to interview more than 400 undertakings
in various parts of Estonia. The data will be generalised to the standard
sample. The data collected in the survey will be grouped by the number of
workers in an undertaking, field of business (primary, secondary and tertiary
sector) and location (urban/rural).
The objective of survey no. 2 is to find out
workers' assessment of:
- various issues related
to the occupational health and safety in the undertaking;
- awareness and
sufficiency of occupational health and safety measures adopted by the
undertaking;
- health condition,
relation of their health to the nature of work and working conditions,
work-related sickness, health risks;
- level of consideration
given by employers to workers' opinions and recommendations;
- experience and
willingness to undergo medical examination and its need;
- undertaking's
occupational health and safety policy.
Data collected in the survey of workers will be
analysed by the following criteria: age and the position of the worker; field
of activity of the undertaking; number of workers in the undertaking; place of
residence and other possible criteria that may be interesting for the analysis.
Methodology
The survey of workers will be conducted as the
national bimonthly omnibus survey based on computerised CAPI interviews to take
place at respondents' homes. The questionnaire of CAPI interviews is displayed
on a laptop and data will be entered on site.
The omnibus survey targets all residents of the
Republic of Estonia aged 15-74 (a total of 1,102,842 persons as of January 1st,
1999.)
The sample of the omnibus survey is 500 persons of
whom 54-56 per cent are workers. Based on this consideration, questions on
occupational health will be asked in three consecutive omnibus surveys to
ensure a sample of around 800 respondents.
For the mapping of the conditions in workplaces
will be carry out two questionnaires: one for the employees and the other for
the enterprises( in February-March 2000).
All together will be examine 400 enterprises in
Estonia.