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31/10/2005.
According to a report by Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Work Environment Authority, about 33% of all employed men and 29% of all employed women have jobs that involve heavy work. This represents, since 1995, a slight decrease for women by two percentage points and an increase by one percentage point for men.
Heavy work has been defined in the study as lifting heavy loads (over 15 kg) several times a day or when the respondent fully/partially agrees that the work is strenuous.
The report finds that men and women generally experience different types of heavy work. Men, to a larger extent than women, report that they must lift heavy loads, while the majority of women report that their work is physically heavy, but that they do not have to lift heavy loads. Difficult work postures are also frequently reported. Some 70% of assistant nurses/hospital ward assistants, mail carriers/sorting clerks, plumbers and painters, building structure cleaners etc report that they have to work in strained postures. The report concludes that difficult work postures are a contributing factor to the respondents’ view of their work as heavy.
Professions where heavy work is common generally have a higher percentage of people on long-term absenteeism (five weeks or more) due to work-related disorders than is the case among all those who are employed. Among the total working population, 6.8% of women and 3.8% of men were long-term absent due to a work-related disorder over a 12-month period. Among professions where physically heavy work is common, 11% of women working as machine operators/assemblers or cooks have been long-term absent. Plumbers and painters have the highest long-term absenteeism among men, at 7% and 8% respectively.
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