Health and safety issues faced by survey interviewers at the National Statistics Office

Abstract

Researchers conducting fieldwork among private households constantly put themselves in perilous situations, rarely stopping to think about the risks they are potentially facing. A number of physical and psychological risks are present in the field, and these have received little attention in the research conducted to date (Bloor, Sampson, & Fincham, 2007). With this in mind, and the knowledge that survey interviewers at the National Statistics Office (NSO) receive no preparatory training in this regard, this study set out to investigate the subject fmiher. A sample of survey interviewers were asked to complete a questionnaire asking them which items, from a provided list, they considered to be potential risks in the course of their fieldwork, and which they had been exposed to. They were then asked if they had ever been in a situation where they felt their health or safety were compromised and how they dealt with it if they were. An analysis of the results revealed that survey interviewers considered a number of the listed items, such as personal injury or attack by pets, to be potential risks, while others such as personal injury due to falls from height were not considered to be an issue. The risks that survey interviewers felt they were most exposed to were emotional distress in response to participants' disclosures, accidents due to travel by personal transport and personal injury or attack by pets. However, the level of exposure to these risks was relatively low. Eight respondents replied that they had been in a situation they considered hazardous to their health or safety, and each had varying ways of dealing with such a situation. The majority believed that nothing could be done to prevent situations like these occurring, while a few suggested that preparatory training would be beneficial.