Measuring psychosocial risks in agricultural sector

Aims: This study aims to create a tool to measure the psychosocial risks within organization operating in the agricultural sector, with a purpose of improving people's health and well-being as a collective dimension and a strategy for an economical growth. Using a standardized measuring instrument for assessing psychosocial risks in the companies in every occupational settings can raise some reasonable doubts concerning the reliability and validity of the instrument used and so, for practical and ethical reasons, it should be developed new ones also in order to generate new methodological and procedural elements. The measurement is not the only one outcome of an assessment on physical and psychiological workers' health at an individual or a group level, but it might be conducted through ethnographic observation on the relational dynamics in continuous searching for a meaning and a shared value. What we will measure will be represented by the type of relationship with the other. Methods: The technique bottom-up used to satisfy the aims of the research involves a broad range of social institutions as well as enterprises with a qualitative-quantitative research system using various tools such as semi-structured interview, focus groups, and questionnaires. A pilot survey will be conducted with a pre-test in which companies will be selected basing on their organizational structure and the production sector, than follow the final administration of the questionnaire to a sample of about 500-1000 employees, representing a population of about 20,000 workers employed in the agricultural sector in Autonomous Italian Region 'Friuli Venezia Giulia'. Results: In agricultural sector, the presence of typical stressors of the particular occupational setting and the presence of specific organizational models, can cause hyperstress normally undetected with standardized questionnaires (Favretto G., 1994, 'Lo stress nelle organizzazioni', ed. Il Mulino, Bologna), furthermore the mesurement can influence the overall risks assessment as well as it can underline more specific organizational and relational diseases such as burnout and workplace bullying. Conclusion: Following the european strategy on health and safety in the workplace and recent national legislation, this research has the objective of better defining and assessing potential new emerging risks, by creating operational synergies with other scientific areas by developing empirical experiences with the use of new operational tools (Community strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work).