The effects of part-time employment and employment in rotating periods on occupational accidents. The case of Greece

Abstract During the last few years new forms of employment have been developed. Part-time employment and employment in rotating periods are on a rise especially in cases of economic slowdown and high unemployment rates, as part of the what is called precarious work. For the case of Greece, that was recently hit by resection and a number fiscal consolidation programs, the number of occupational accidents increased despite high unemployment rates. This paper attempts to investigate the effects that those new flexible employment forms may have on occupational safety and health for cases that when they are forced and violently introduced into the labour market. Analysis of data revealed that the rate of occupational accidents for the case of Greece did not follow the respective reduction of GDP but instead increased according to the significant increase of part-time and work in rotating periods contracts. Both organizational and social factors, such as lack of training, ineffective safety management systems, psychosocial factors and loose community properties that weakens collective bargaining could contribute to that.