Work safety climate. Comparison of selected occupational groups

agricultural products and animals), and chemical hazards (trading in pesticides). The nuisance related to work in retail is caused primarily by the physical effort, related to dynamic loads (when walking) and static loads (in a standing position). In addition, retail workers are exposed to substantial psychological strain. Working in constant contact with the customer, the feeling of threat related to financial liability, the need to work during holidays, as well as intensified workloads during the so-called high season (e.g. before Christmas, during the sales period) may deepen emotional tensions, lead to greater stress and disturb the work-life bal- ance. Work is carried out both in teams and individually, and the qualifications required from the employees tend to vary and depend on the specific range offered by the given retail outlet. The job of a mine rescuer is a difficult and dangerous profession in which helping others in an emergency involves risking one’s own most valuable resources, life and health. This is due to the fact that rescuers have to participate in situations involving high physical strain, as the pro- fession involves a high likelihood of injury, and mental strain, due to the frequently experienced traumatic stress. This is a highly injury-prone occupation. This is because rescuers have to par- ticipate in events causing strong physical and mental strain due to the frequent experience of traumatic stress [33–36]. The aim of the actions undertaken by rescuers is to rescue people and

property at risk and to eliminate the threat posed by mining operations, caused by natural or technical factors related to mining. Rescue operations last from a dozen hours or so to several dozen days [37]. The threats associated with this occupation involve exposure to work in harm- ful, unpredictable conditions and rapidly changing circumstances (caving, fire, gas, and water hazards), with the possibility of various types of risk factors being activated in an unpredictable manner, with high physical effort. Workers are exposed to active participation in events during which operations are carried out under constant threat of worsening conditions, which gener- ates and intensifies the feeling of stress. Mine rescuers always work in teams. The smallest orga- nizational unit in mine rescue services is composed of five members in total, including four rescuers and one leader. It is a fixed group of people, whose goal is to perform activities jointly as part of the rescue operation. In mine rescue units, care is taken to make sure that the group’s composition stays permanent, its members participate together in training and rescue opera- tions, and remain on standby duty for many days, quartered together over that time. During performance of rescue operations, the unit works in one place, and all its members must remain within sight of the others. Rescuers are required to watch one another constantly and to be attentive to the external environment, which guarantees safety on the individual and on the

group level. The members of the unit operate in accordance with the “one for all, all for one” principle. Recruitment for this job involves a restrictive selection procedure. In addition to the formal requirements, training and experience related to work as a miner, the candidates are also expected to be fully mentally and physically fit and ready to participate in specialized training courses, involving improvement of the competencies required for mining rescue operations. Staying in the profession involves the requirement to undergo systematic training with regard to technical skills as well as to maintain a high level of psychophysical fitness. Research objectives The study was of an exploratory nature. The aim was to compare selected occupational groups, industrial production line workers, retail workers and mine rescuers, in terms of their assess- ment of the work safety climate. The criterion for selection of the occupational groups was the different specificity of the work performed by their respective representatives and the different types of threats related to the environment where it is carried out. Due to the lack of research reports referring to comparative analyses with regard to the assessment of the work safety cli- mate between the occupational groups identified in the presented studies, it was decided not PLOS ONE Work safety climate PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243056 December 14, 2020 4 / 19