• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.169-175
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• 2011

Objectives: The questionnaire of occupational stress index (OSI) has been popular in the workplace, and it has been tailored for bus drivers in Taiwan. Nevertheless, its outcomes for participants are based on self-evaluations, thus validation by their physiological stress biomarker is warranted and this is the main goal of this study. Methods: A cross-sectional study of sixty-three city bus drivers and fifty-four supporting staffs for comparison was conducted. Questionnaire surveys, 24-hour urine cortisol testing, and blood draws for dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) testing were performed. The measured concentrations of these biological measures were logarithmically transformed before the statistical analysis where various scores of stressor factors, moderators, and stress effects of each OSI domain were analyzed by applying multiple linear regression models. Results: For drivers, the elevated 24-hour urine cortisol level was associated with a worker's relationship with their supervisor and any life change events in the most recent 3 months. The DHEA-S level was higher in drivers of younger age as well as drivers with more concerns relating to their salary and bonuses. Non-drivers showed no association between any stressor or satisfaction and urine cortisol and blood DHEA-S levels. Conclusion: Measurements of biomarkers may offer additional stress evaluations with OSI questionnaires for bus drivers. Increased DHEA-S and cortisol levels may result from stressors like income security. Prevention efforts towards occupational stress and life events and health promotional efforts for aged driver were important anti-stress remedies.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.454-461
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• 2018

Background: Working conditions and psychosocial work factors have acquired an important role explaining the well-being and performance of professional drivers, including those working in the field of public transport. This study aimed to examine the association between job strain and the operational performance of public transport drivers and to compare the expositions with psychosocial risk at work of three different types of transport workers: taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers. Method: A sample of 780 professional drivers was drawn from three transport companies in Bogota (Colombia). The participants answered the Job Content Questionnaire and a set of sociodemographic and driving performance questions, including age, professional driving experience, work schedules, and accidents and penalties suffered in the last 2 years. Results: Analyses showed significant associations between measures of socio-labor variables and key performance indicators such road traffic accidents and penalties. Furthermore, multiple linear regression analysis contributed to explain significantly suffered accidents from key variables of the Job Demand-Control model, essentially from job strain. In addition, throughout post-hoc analyses, significant differences were found in terms of perceived social support, job strain, and job insecurity. Conclusion: Work stress is an issue that compromises the safety of professional drivers. This research provides evidence supporting a significant effect of job strain on the professional driver's performance. Moreover, the statistically significant differences between taxi drivers, city bus drivers, and interurban bus drivers in their expositions to work-related stress suggest the need for tailored occupational safety interventions on each occupational group.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.20-27
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the association between emotional labor and job stress in bus drivers, as well as to propose management strategies for job stress. Methods: The study was conducted in February 2013 and involved 182 bus drivers working in the Gyeonggi area. Results: emotional labor was $9.5{\pm}2.34$ on average, and job stress was higher than the median of the same indicator among Korea's workers in the areas of physical environment, job autonomy, and relationship conflicts. Factors that affected job stress was lower if the subjects' Higher values for emotional labor indicated a higher level of job stress. Conclusion: To reduce among drivers, the following measures are necessary: increase the comfort of the driver's seat within the vehicle, provide adequate rest between bus headways, provide comfortable in-house rest facilities, and establish physical training spaces to reduce musculoskeletal disorders as well as programs for reducing back pain. In addition, relationship conflicts may be relieved by increasing job autonomy as much as possible, by granting autonomous control of working hours and bus headways, as well as by banning long work hours. Moreover, various club activities, exercise programs, and counseling programs that workers can be involved in together may be beneficial. This study is significant in that it identified the relationship of the bus drivers' emotional labor and job stress, which has previously been ignored as a research topic. Through its results, this study provides baseline data for the preparation of management strategies that can address the job stress of bus drivers.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2020

Background: The working conditions of bus drivers are difficult; they lead to occupational diseases and require careful study, particularly in Ukraine. The objective of the article is the description of occupational health risks of passenger bus drivers that lead to deteriorating health. Methods: The risk assessment was performed using a modified Risk Score method, which allowed determining the generalized level of danger to the driver's health. The hygienic hazards level was assessed as based on Stevenson's law, which was generalized later. Results: Based on the modification of the Risk Score method, it was possible to depart from expert assessments method of the risk level and calculate the general indicator based on the degree of dependence of the impact on the human body on its intensity, proposed by V. Minko. This allows objective determining of the impact of hygiene hazards on the health of the driver and to predict the occurrence of occupational diseases associated with the cardiovascular system, musculoskeletal system, and partial or complete disability due to the accumulation of emotional fatigue. The hazard assessment was carried out for three brands of passenger buses common in Ukraine, in which the driver is exposed to the dangers of fever, vibration, noise, harmful impurities in the bus cabin, and emotional load. Conclusion: The health of drivers in the cabins of passenger buses is most affected by hygiene hazards: fever, vibration, and emotional stress. The generalized level of risk is calculated by the modified method of Risk Score is 0.83; -0.99, -0.92 respectively.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.353-360
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• 2020

Background: Urban bus drivers work under conditions that are among the most demanding, stressful, and unhealthy with higher rates of mortality and morbidity as well as absenteeism and turnover. Methods: Drawing on the job demand-resource model, this study investigates the impacts of job characteristics on emotional exhaustion and the effects of emotional exhaustion on job outcomes (including job satisfaction, life satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention) in the context of bus drivers. Results: Using self-reported survey data collected from a sample of 320 Taiwanese urban bus drivers, results reveal that role overload and work-family conflict (as job demand factors) positively relate to emotional exhaustion, and organizational support (as a job resource factor) is negatively associated with emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion has negative effects on both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction positively leads to life satisfaction, whereas organizational commitment negatively relates to turnover intention. Conclusion: This study concludes that role overload and work-family conflict as two stressors related to job demands and organizational support as the job resource factor to affect emotional exhaustion which further influence well-being in bus driver context. The moderating effects of both extraversion and neuroticism on the relationship between job demands and emotional exhaustion are evident.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors influencing health promoting lifestyle of urban bus driver in small-sized companies. Methods: This study included 118 urban bus drivers who completed questionnaires. The data were collected from 6 small-sized bus companies located in a metropolitan city, from January to February 2015. Analyses were done using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and multiple regression analysis. SPSS/Win 18.0 was used. Results: The scores of HPLP of urban bus drivers were 2.7 (on a 4-point scale). Mean of HPLP sub-scores were self-fulfillment ($3.0{\pm}0.5$), interpersonal relationship ($2.9{\pm}0.5$), physical activity ($2.9{\pm}0.7$), health responsibility ($2.7{\pm}0.5$), healthy diet ($2.6{\pm}0.6$), and stress management ($2.5{\pm}0.5$). Among independent variables, job satisfaction and presence of religion were significantly related to health promoting lifestyle (explained 39.2%). Conclusions: This study revealed that there is a need to strengthen job satisfaction for urban bus drivers' health promoting lifestyle.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.295-305
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the factors that influence the wellness of bus drivers by examining the relationships between job stress, physical activity, subjective happiness, and wellness. Methods: Self-report questionnaires were distributed during October 2017. Results: Based on a multiple regression analysis, the significant factors found to affect the wellness of bus drivers were physical activity (β=.48, p<.001), subjective happiness (β=.25, p=.001), and job stress (β=-.17, p=.025). The total explanatory power of the study variables for wellness was 45.7% (F=33.04, p<.001). Conclusion: These findings highlight a need to develop workplace wellness programs to reduce job stress and improve physical activity and subjective happiness among bus drivers.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.281-289
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• 2015

Purpose: This study was conducted to examine the effects of individual counseling for bus-drivers on cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease prevention. Methods: The one-group pretest-posttest design was used. This study presents a secondary analysis of data collected in 'contents of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease prevention program for bus-drivers in one workplace in Seoul, Korea. The data were collected from 56 bus drivers, using questionnaires from September 10th to November 20th, 2014. The analysis was conducted with ${\chi}^2$ test and paired samples t-test using SPSS/Win 21.0. Results: After the intervention, the participants showed a significant decrease in the level of systolic blood pressure (p=.003) and a significant increase in the total cholesterol level (p=.030). The distribution of cardiovascular risk groups changed after the intervention: 5.3% decreased in the high risk group, 16.1% decreased in the medium risk group, and 3.5% decreased in the low risk group, while 25.0% increased in the normal group. Conclusion: The comprehensive individual counseling including simple screening, tailored education and counseling is effective to manage their lifestyle risk factors, resulting in better maintenance of their health as well as preventing cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.376-391
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• 2023

Objectives: Our previously published study showed that a workplace nutrition intervention program with personalized goal setting and smartphone-based nutrition counseling improved dietary habits and physical activity in city bus drivers who were overweight/obese. This study explored the facilitators and barriers that participants faced in achieving their dietary and physical activity goals six months after the intervention. Methods: The study included bus drivers and dietitians who participated in the intervention program. Three focus group interviews were conducted with 10 bus drivers (divided by two groups based on their achievement of set goals) and five dietitians who had provided nutrition counseling. Results: Willpower was the most important intrapersonal facilitator for drivers to achieve their goals. Other factors that promoted behavioral changes were nutrition counseling by dietitians, trackable physical activity using smartwatches, and setting of practical and achievable goals. Meanwhile, the most important barriers identified were occupational factors such as long driving hours, short breaks, and shift work. Other barriers were environmental factors such as availability of snackable food, accessibility to convenience stores, and cold weather. Family and colleagues were perceived as both facilitators and barriers. In addition, dietitians identified a lack of knowledge about healthy diet as one of the barriers. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the workplace environment should be improved and that nutrition intervention programs at the workplace could encourage bus drivers to practice healthy eating habits. The facilitators and barriers identified in this study should be considered when planning a nutrition intervention program for bus drivers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 2014

The study examined the relationship between six broad personality traits(i.e., HEXACO; Honesty-humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to experience), safety job performance, and traffic accidents of Korean occupational bus drivers. Based on the job performance model, we included safety participation as well as safety compliance as safety job performance. Analyses on the data from a total of 492 bus drivers showed that all HEXACO personality traits except Honesty-humility, were valid predictors for both safety compliance and safety participation. Honesty-humility was only related to safety compliance. Among the six personality traits, high conscientiousness and low emotionality were best predictors of safety job performance. As for traffic accidents, conscientiousness was a sole significant predictor. Furthermore, the mediation analysis showed that the effect of conscientiousness on traffic accidents was completely explained by safety compliance and safety participation. The implications of the current findings for practice and future research as well as the limitations of the current study were discussed.