Investigation on occupational stress and its influencing factors in a petrochemical enterprise based on two occupational stress assessment models

Objective  To investigate the occupational stress status and its influencing factors among employees in a petrochemical enterprise under different models.

Methods  A total of 1 677 employees in a petrochemical enterprise in Guangdong Province were selected using cluster sampling as survey subjects from September 2020 to March 2021. The Job Content Questionnaire based on the job demand-control (JDC) model and the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) Questionnaire were used to assess the occupational stress status. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the influencing factors of occupational stress.

Results  A total of 1 684 questionnaires were distributed, and 1 677 valid questionnaires were returned, with an effective recovery rate of 99.58%. The frequency rates of occupational stress assessed by the JDC and ERI models were 28.6% and 26.2%, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that under the JDC model, employees with more than 20 years of service had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to those with less than 10 years of service (OR = 0.535, 95%CI: 0.292 to 0.978); shift workers had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to regular day workers (OR = 1.319, 95%CI: 1.028 to 1.693); employees exposed to screen work had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to those not exposed (OR = 1.662, 95%CI: 1.229 to 2.246); employees with a monthly income of 10 000 to 12 000 yuan had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to those with a monthly income of less than 10 000 yuan (OR = 1.566, 95%CI: 1.167 to 2.102); employees who consumed alcohol had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to those who did not (OR = 0.758, 95%CI: 0.599 to 0.959); employees who lacked exercise had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to those who did exercise (OR = 1.318, 95%CI: 1.028 to 1.689); employees with sleep durations of 6 to 7 hours and more than 7 hours had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to those with sleep durations of less than 6 hours (OR = 0.675, 0.496, 95%CI: 0.522 to 0.873 and 0.364 to 0.676, respectively). Under the ERI model, females had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to males (OR = 0.464, 95%CI: 0.300 to 0.715); employees with 10 to 20 years of service had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to those with less than 10 years of service (OR = 0.685, 95%CI: 0.511 to 0.918); employees exposed to chemical toxins had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to non-exposed workers (OR = 1.331, 95%CI: 1.023 to 1.730); employees exposed to screen work had a higher risk of occupational stress compared to non-exposed workers (OR = 1.477, 95%CI: 1.088 to 2.007); employees with sleep durations of 6 to 7 hours and more than 7 hours had a lower risk of occupational stress compared to those with sleep durations of less than 6 hours (OR = 0.723, 0.508, 95%CI: 0.557 to 0.937 and 0.369 to 0.699, respectively).

Conclusions  The frequency rate of occupational stress among employees of this petrochemical enterprise was relatively high. The results drawn from the JDC and ERI models were not entirely consistent. Enterprises should reasonably arrange working hours, create a comfortable working environment, strengthen occupational health engineering protection and individual protection, pay attention to employees' mental health training, and alleviate employees' occupational stress. Employees should also reasonably arrange their work and rest and exercise moderately to prevent occupational stress.