ANALYSIS OF CURRENT SITUATION AND PLAN FOR

DEVELOPMENT OF E-LEARNING APPLICATION FOR STRESS

PREVENTION OF ROAD TRANSPORT DRIVERS AND SME

Ivan Atanasov Kolarov

Faculty of Transport Management, Higher School of Transport, Geo Milev Str. N 158, Sofia, Bulgaria

Keywords: Stress Prevention Activities, Transport Sector, E-learning.

Abstract: Prevention of work stress is among the priorities of the European Commission as stated in the Health and

Safety policy published in March 2002. The case of the road transport drivers (freights and passengers) is

worthy to be considered separately, since their work accidents might affect not only their own health but

also other people's - road traffic participants, service personnel, etc. Aim of this paper is to analyze current

situation and to propose a methodological dossier of virtual learning environmental (VLE) for stress

prevention activities of road transport drivers and SME on the base of achievements in areas such as e-

learning and risk prevention. It is proposed the VLE to be composed of 6 learning modules: What is stress?

Causes of stress (stress related hazards); Effects of stress; Stress risk assessment; Stress management;

Prevention of work stress. The training content will be complemented with examples on Physical and

Physiological exercises and techniques. There is short a description of VLE organization, as well.

1 INTRODUCTION

In 2008, major economic changes emerged in all EU

countries, which concerned every actor of the

economy in a negative sense. Stress is becoming a

more and more important work-related risk, as new

work organization is applied and as the economical

situation is still complicated. Quantative and

qualitative investigations of major stressors in the

workplace are studied and recommendations for

organization of labour in order to avoid them are

made (Gaston and Phyllis). Prevention of work

stress is among the priorities of the European

Commission as stated in the Health and Safety

policy published in March 2002.

Workers suffering from stress at work are more

likely to be unhealthy, poorly motivated, less

productive and more prone to suffer work-related

illnesses and accidents at work (EU-OSH). The case

of the road transport drivers (freights and

passengers) worth to be considered separately, since

their work accidents might affect not only their own

health but also other people's - road traffic

participants, service personnel, etc. The fact of other

peoples' life depending on drivers’ well-being

increases the necessity of preventing stress among

the road transport drivers.

There are good examples for e-learning

application for drivers’ training, created by

specialists in areas of transport science and e-

learning pedagogy - CD, DVD or Internet based,

web 2.0 included that can be changed and adapted

according to needs of trainers and training centres

(CT-TRANS and SAFE TRUCK). These examples

encourage us to apply the same technology for

driver training on stress prevention.

Aim of this paper is to analyze the current

situation and to propose a methodological dossier of

virtual learning environmental for stress prevention

activities of road transport drivers and SME by e-

learning.

2 PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Stress is not necessarily a negative phenomenon. It

is believed that certain types of stress are normal and

necessary for the satisfactory completion of work.

However, if stress is intense, prolonged or

continuous, and if one is unable to cope with it, or if

it is unbearable, this stress has a negative influence,

305

Atanasov Kolarov I..

ANALYSIS OF CURRENT SITUATION AND PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF E-LEARNING APPLICATION FOR STRESS PREVENTION OF ROAD

TRANSPORT DRIVERS AND SME.

DOI: 10.5220/0003898103050308

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU-2012), pages 305-308

ISBN: 978-989-8565-06-8

 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

which sometimes leads to physical illness and

mental disorders. The main sources of workplace

stress are work demands, lack of control over one's

job, change, conflicting roles, and interpersonal

relations, lack of support at work and balance work

and life. They exhaust human body, make it

susceptible to external factors, cause an increase of

the number of wrong decisions, etc. When the term

"stress" is used in this code, it usually refers to

negative, harmful forms of stress. So define the

types of workplace stress are:

Positive stress is that which is normal and

necessary for the performance of official duties

satisfactorily.

Negative stress is one that is strong, continuous

and prolonged and may lead to physical illness and

mental disorders.

There are three main strategies for the prevention

of workplace stress (European Foundation for the

Improvement of Living and Working Conditions):

 Remove or modify the stress factors and reduce

their adverse impacts on health and welfare of

workers.

 Adapt changes in the work environment to the

individual characteristics of workers.

 Increase individual resistance to stress through

awareness and improving skills to cope with

stress through training.

The first two strategies are aimed at the working

environment, and the third - the personality.

The main activities at work are: change tasks and

work environment, enter flexible work and rest,

promotion of workers, improving social support

from colleagues and managers, analysis of work

roles and objectives, clear job description,

weekly/monthly workshops, discussions on issues in

the enterprise, harmonization of responsibilities and

authority, monitor of workers, material stimulation

etc.

There are several parties involved in road

transportation and loading and unloading operations

as: principal; the transport company that is

contracted/subcontracted by the principal; the driver;

the site, where the actual loading or unloading takes

place; the operator who is physically carrying out

the loading/unloading operations. Each party has its

responsibilities.

The management of the site should ensure that

operators have competences and have passed

successfully all the training necessary to fulfil the

legislative requirements and site requirements, in

particular regarding the handling of dangerous

goods. It must promote and maintain safety

awareness, particularly during product handling and

ensure that loading / unloading operations are

carried out under supervision, that cargo is secured

according to the rules and accepted agreement, that

that there is a procedure to report all near misses,

incidents, loading/discharge problems and unsafe

situations or conditions, including follow-up etc.

The management have to gather and operate with a

great amount of information to follow and predict

the market needs.

Drivers should have competences and training

according to Directive 2003/59/CE. Before driving

off, they have to be ensuring that all systems, units

and aggregates are normally working, secures, take

rest breaks according to EU rules, return and

complete all paper work etc. Drivers, who are

involved in international transport operations, should

be able to communicate in the local language of the

loading/unloading site or in at least one of the

following languages (English, French or German).

Competences, hazards and risks are determined

for all parties in road transport: Multi-drop,

Occasional, dangerous goods drivers, courier

services, warehousemen, workshop staff, lorry

loaders and Banksmen, fork-lift operatives. Since

stress can not be measured directly with widespread

measurement instruments, it is limited by indirect

activities, namely, strict compliance with restrictions

on drivers' hours, risk assessment and others. Thus,

stress is mentioned only short in widespread training

materials for drivers and important details are not

mentioned. In case the first symptoms of stress are

not noticed and health problems in physical and

mental status of the worker occur medical care is

called. So, the drivers and their managers, load

operators should have broad general knowledge on

the issues of stress and ways of its prevention.

Nowadays, e-learning provides flexible and

cheap opportunities for providing information and

specialized knowledge to the large groups of

specialists. It provides opportunities for easy

updating of training content, providing information

by text, images, short and longer videos to large

number of users at a time convenient for them,

control of access to training and of knowledge etc. It

is good by e-learning authorities and employers, in

cooperation with the workers representatives to

supply all employees, supervisors and managers

with information on stress at work. This information

should include:

 Nature and causes of stress in the workplace

and activities to prevent the occurrence of such

problems and the best methods for their

reduction and elimination;

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 Information on laws and regulations, including

stress, which are general and specific to

transport;



Information about services available to help

workers exposed to workplace stress, including

assessment to rehabilitation, discussions, and

experience exchange.

So, training in transport should be based on a series

of policies and to ensure continuous knowledge

according to specific needs. It should be ensured by

the employer or together with workers, or by

supervisors and managers.

There are needs organization of work to be

improved for stress prevention. Working hours must

be respected according to European directives. The

timetable of work should be done efficiently, so

employees to have time for family and other

commitments. It should be avoided extremely long

hours of work in discouraging recourse in

emergency work, and providing enough time for

rest. Minimum consecutive night shifts and split

shifts to be assigned in accordance with healthy and

together with other activities to ensure welfare of

workers. From that point of view the work plan is

important for stress reduction. An effective plan

should ensure that: tasks are clearly defined,

significant, different, and allow an appropriate

degree of autonomy in their implementation;

identification of the tasks is according to the skill

and experience of staff, taking into account the

characteristics and difficulties of the different

operations of work; rotation of staff is planned,

especially if specific and dangerous activities and

new employees are provided; appropriate

verification of completed tasks and providing

opportunities for skills development of staff is

available; planning of work is continuously

improved in order to better meet the needs.

Another option for stress reduction is the good

communication skills. Communication with

customers and stakeholders can be improved by:

providing customers timely and relevant

information; customers are given the opportunity to

comment the quality of work; the comments are not

ignored and they are taken into account; reduce the

conflicts, creating service desks and acceptance of

complaints. Communication between management

and workers and among workers can be improved

when: communication channels are established on

the basis sharing information and facilitating

solutions to problems related to work; special

communication channels are set when organization

is changed or there are reforms; Put in operation

checking procedures; the employees are stimulated

and they have opportunity to work in formal or

informal, temporary or permanent groups; there are

opportunities for staff to submit ideas, and

particularly in planning and organization of their

own work; there is time for dialogue, sharing

information and concerns.

Use the good practices in work is another

inexpensive way to reduce stress at work and in the

same time to improve the quality of work. The

improved work practices should aim to ensure:

sufficient staff in terms of number and qualifications

according to the needs of work and consumers;

employees are given flexible deadlines so that the

rules and policies shall not be construed as

unacceptable by the society and customers; those

who work alone and especially at dangerous areas

should be equipped with devices for communication

and should be supported by emergency procedures

in case of need.

Stress caused by the new technology can be

prevented by their little by little implementation. It is

good to start by their advantages and critical point in

application. In this case speed of work, terms and

interruptions should be focused on people rather

than technology.

Working conditions are another key factor to

increase stress. It is recommended low noise, good

lighting, temperature, humidity and ventilation at the

workplace, risk assessment for stress prevention.

According to European Agency for Safety and

Health at Work sufficient working space must be

available to facilitate the work carried out and there

is enough space between the workers and with

customers to reduce personal intervention and

creation of stress and tension.

All employees must have access to proper

medical and psychological treatment, and it should

be known the hazard risks at workplace. When the

transport companies do not have the medical center

or case exceed their jurisdiction, the employer must

send the employee an appropriate treatment outside

the enterprise. Consultation should be organized by

the employer with all who are affected by stress and

the workplace. It should include: initial consultation

to help the individual to know the risks of stress and

change their behavior and attitudes; advice when

stress affects employees to help them cope with

these problems.

Specific training should be provided for all

parties in road transport sector.

Specific training for drivers and operators should

include: Obligations and rights according to

National and EU legislation; How to improve ability

to identify potential situations causing stress; How to

ANALYSISOFCURRENTSITUATIONANDPLANFORDEVELOPMENTOFE-LEARNINGAPPLICATIONFOR

STRESSPREVENTIONOFROADTRANSPORTDRIVERSANDSME

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improve capacity to assess and to solve problems;

How to be prepared to manage activities at work;

What to do if there are some extra cases; Auto-

suggestion and communication skills; How to make

positive attitude at work.

Training for supervisors, managers and employee

representatives should include: How to organize the

work to decrees the stress; How to register change in

behavior of staff and which may indicate as stress;

How to put good conditions for operations and

which methods to use; How to support drivers,

operators and help them by administrative

procedures; How to keep confidence for any

information obtained about personal healthy of staff;

How to reduce stress in office; How to manage staff

and create a work environment based on mutual

respect, etc.

3 METHODOLOGY DOSSIER

FOR VLE

The VLE will be composed of learning modules,

each based on chapters. The modules are: What is

stress?; Causes of stress (stress related hazards);

Effects of stress (individual and organisational);

Stress risk assessment; Stress management;

Prevention of work stress; Each module will content

information about Learning objectives; Theory;

Control questions; Additional materials; Glossary;

Bibliography and Case Study. The training content

will be complemented with examples on Physical

and physiological exercises and techniques.

4 CONCLUSIONS AND

FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

The VLE will present general information about

stress, stress related hazards in transport and how to

asses, manage and prevent them, to be composed of

6 learning modules: What is stress? Causes of stress

(); Effects of stress; Stress risk assessment; Stress

management; Prevention of work stress. The

chapters are planted to content: Learning objectives;

Theory; Control questions; Additional materials;

Glossary; Bibliography; Case Study. The training

content is planed to be complemented with examples

on Physical and Physiological exercises and

techniques and they will be presented by text,

pictures and videos. There is short a description of

VLE organization, as well.

VLE is in process of creation now, following the

described plan here.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is carried in the frame of the 2010-1-ES1-

LEO05-21000“SPA-ROAD: Stress Prevention

Activities for Road Transport Drivers and SME

project and has been funded with support from the

European Commission. This publication reflects the

views only of the author, and the Commission

cannot be held responsible for any use which may be

made of the information contained therein.

REFERENCES

EU road freight transport sector: Work and employment

conditions. European Foundation for the Improvement

of Living and Working Conditions, 2004.

Gaston H., Phyllis G. Mental health and work: Impact,

issues and good practices. Department of Mental

Health and Substance Dependence Noncommunicable

Diseases and Mental Health. World Health

Organization. Geneva, 2000

Managing risks to drivers in road transport. European

Agency for Safety and Health at Work. 2011.

Occupational safety and health in the transport sector —

an overview. European Agency for Safety and Health

at Work (EU-OSH).

CT-TRANS - ES/06/B/F/PP-149518, Formación Continua

armonizada para el Sector del Transporte por

Carretera, de acuerdo con la Directiva 2003/59/CE y

aplicación experimental de las Nuevas Tecnologías -

Leonardo da Vinci Project, (http://www.net-mex.hu/

cttrans2/), 2004 – 2006.

SAFE TRUCK - ES/09/LLP-LdV/TOI/149054, Improving

Health and Safety of Freight Transport Drivers -

Leonardo da Vinci Project, (http://safetruck.net-

mex.hu/). 2019 - 2011.

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