Читать книгу Global Environmental Careers - Justin Taberham - Страница 115

There are significant issues within the green sector in terms of mental health. The transition to a greener economy inevitably involves change and this in return can increase the prevalence of mental health issues within workers in the economy as well as the general public.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, in its (2013) report ‘Green jobs and occupational safety and health: Foresight on new and emerging risks associated with new technologies by 2020’ highlighted some key issues developing from increasing uncertainty in a changing economy:

 Economic growth concerns around the availability of funding for green initiatives

 Green values and the willingness (or not) of the public to change

 Challenges with innovation and new technologies

The report summarised:

During this work, it became apparent that many of the current assumptions about future green jobs are based on an optimistic outcome, a Win‐Win scenario. But the possibility that these targets are not met should be taken into account.

As diverse as green jobs may be, a number of common challenges were highlighted:

 Decentralised work processes: as workplaces are getting more dispersed and more difficult to reach, monitoring and enforcement of good OSH [occupational safety and health] conditions and safe working practices is likely to become more challenging

 A growing use of subcontracted work, as well as an increase in self‐employment, micro and small enterprises: such structures may have less awareness of OSH and a less‐developed culture of OSH, as well as fewer resources available for OSH and less access to OSH services

 New skills and the need for adequate worker training: there are many new green technologies and working processes where specific knowledge is needed but has not yet been fully developed; there are also (new combinations of) ‘old’ risks but found in new situations equally requiring new (combinations of) specific skills; the job opportunities in green jobs may attract new entrants extending beyond their original skills areas and unaware of these new challenges

 Skill shortages and polarisation of the workforce, with low‐skilled workers pushed to accept poorer working conditions and more difficult jobs

 Increased automation, which may improve OSH but also bring human‐machine interface issues as well as issues of over‐reliance on the technology

 Conflicts between green objectives and OSH, with the risk of OSH being overlooked

 Novel, difficult‐to‐characterise and potentially hazardous materials that will need to be closely monitored over their entire life cycle for potential (unknown, long‐latency) health hazards: this will be increasingly challenging as no one stays in the same job for life, making it difficult to link health effects to occupational exposure.

Some areas of work within the green sector have high levels of stress and confrontation. These including International Development work and Political Lobbying. In addition, there is considerable pressure in committing yourself to a career that aims to make a difference in the world and the potential stress when you review whether you have achieved as much as you wanted.