Stress and burnout are two words that are commonly occurring in many contexts today. More and more people experience that they are stressed and that they does not feel well. The long term sick -leave increases as a consequence of people being burned out. These phenomena prolong over all ages, sexes, classes and professional categories, which probably means that the construction industry would not be spared.
In the construction industry, stress and bad health are no new phenomenon, already during the 1970s and big parts of the 1990 s, the construction sector were exposed to the phenomena.
A sector that has a large turnover annually cannot presumably be faultless. This does not only concern the construction industry but all larger sectors will somehow or sometime have to be aware of negative stress, simply because they have a lot of people working for them.
The aim with this degree project has been to examine and find a greater understanding in what it is that causes stress in the construction industry and also to see what the consequences of negative stress can be. The study also considered whether there is any differences between the professional categories in the construction industry. Also some proposals on measures have been lifted forward.
The reason to why stress arises has been examined and it shows that stress can depend on several different factors. The leading reasons to stress is that the individual does not have control over their own work, the lack of time and also the fact that they do not have any time for recovery. In the constructions industry several different problems were pointed out, for example the short construction time and the time pressure and also bad work environment.
There have been some researches done around the matter of stress that are connected to the construction industry; these studies have been presented in this report.
On the basis of earlier research, a questionnaire has been formulated in order to compare the result with earlier research. The study has been implemented at NCC, Construction, Västerås.
The study shows that it is big differences between the different professional categories. But at the same time there is much that can be done. And by looking of the measures that has been lifted forward, you can see how that can lead to a better work environment among the workers. All professional categories in the construction industry experience stress at work. But the study shows that the workers that are out on the building, the craftsmen and carpenter are the ones to experience the biggest amount of stress.
Keywords: Construction industry, Stress, Studies, Trade
2008. , p. 49