The job of professional drivers in public transport is a service sector, where the needs of the passengers on the one hand, and of the drivers on the other hand, have to be considered in order to get and offer satisfying services. The working conditions of professional drivers have become physically less strenuous due to technical innovations and computerising, but activities like controlling are increasing. For example, in the highly technological subway the main work of the driver is controlling and operating the desk in the driver's cabin. This results in other forms of strain such as monotony and necessity of continuous attention. There are different theories concerning the effects of working conditions on the workers and the answers to the question what stress in the job is, are various - stretching from time pressure and environmental conditions such as heat and noise, to the small everyday hassles such as interruptions of the working process or "social stress", caused by conflicts with colleagues and superiors. Contemporary stress theories emphasise the meaning of interindividual differences in perceiving and judging the stressful conditions, but also the meaning of interindividual differences in stress reactions, like for example the lack of motivation, working dissatisfaction, health damage or reduction of performance. Stress-strain concepts of the ergonomics and psychology have the same view that strain is an individual phenomenon, the result of the individual processing of the conflicts. Everybody experiences and processes the demands of the job in a different way. Because everybody brings their individual conditions, such as personality factors, coping strategies etc. with them in this work, it leads to a different strain on every driver. The stressing conditions and their effects on the strain of drivers are also an important risk factor regarding traffic safety. The effects of driver fatigue are also discussed. For the covering abstract see ITRD E122795.
Samenvatting