A Study of Work-Related Stress Among Injured Workers in Haining Region: A Case Study of Factory Workers and Construction Laborers

. Industry and construction in Haining area are developing rapidly. Due to the particularity of the industry, work-related injuries occur frequently. The physical and mental damage caused by work-related injuries, as well as the risk of unemployment and wage reduction that may accompany them, will increase the pressure on this group. It is necessary to understand the level of work stress of workshop workers and construction workers, identify its source, and then take relevant management measures. This paper takes workshop workers and construction workers who have been injured in Haining area as the research objects, and uses questionnaire survey, interview, SPSS software analysis and other methods to find that the pressure of workers who have been injured in Haining area comes from three aspects: society, workplace and family, and puts forward pressure management measures from three aspects: enterprise, family and society to prevent workers from being too stressed. Keywords : Injured workers; Working pressure; Haining district; Shop workers and construction workers


Introduction
The new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the regional integration of the Yangtze River Delta, and the new pattern of dual-cycle development have provided good opportunities for the high-quality development of Haining's industry and construction industry.The number of workshop and construction workers in Haining has soared.These two types of work are prone to injury due to the nature of their work and the greater risk of exposure to hazards in the workplace.Haining receives an average of more than 3,000 work-related injuries every year, about 80% of which come from workshops and construction sites.Of these, nearly 90% are identified as level 9 and level 10 disabilities.This has a negative impact on their daily work, life, social interaction and study, which leads to stress.However, many companies have yet to recognize the sources of stress and the need for stress management among injured workshop and construction workers.Based on this, this paper makes an in-depth study on the source and level of work stress of injured workers in Haining area, and then provides some suggestions on management.

Overview of Industrial and Construction Sectors in the Haining Region
* Corresponding author: 1180059@zjhzcc.edu.cn

The Status of Industrial and Construction Sectors in the Haining Region
The industry serves as the foundation and cornerstone of Haining's economic development.During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, Haining steadfastly adhered to its strategy of bolstering industrial development and continuously pursued a transformation and upgrade of its industrial sector to promote high-quality development.In 2020, the total industrial output value in Haining reached 202.3 billion CNY (with an added value of 38.38 billion CNY, representing a 6.8% increase compared to the previous year), constituting 37.2% of the regional GDP.The manufacturing sector accounted for over 48% of local fiscal revenue, while the workforce represented more than 55% of the total societal employment.Haining's industrial sector has consistently ranked first in Jiaxing City and among the top in the province in terms of total industrial output value, added value, export delivery value, and industrial investment for several consecutive years.Since the inception of the "Integrate Hangzhou and Shanghai" strategy, the Haining municipal government has been actively promoting alignment with Hangzhou.In 2021, the construction of the Hangzhou-Haining Light Rail was completed, further highlighting the effects of urban integration.
Haining is currently engaged in the construction industry with a dual focus on green manufacturing and scientific management.During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the city aims to achieve a total construction industry output value of over 50 billion CNY, maintain a share of construction industry added steal in the regional GDP exceeding 6%, and consistently rank among the top three in terms of annual production value in the Jiaxing region.Simultaneously, local enterprises are expanding their operations in more than 20 provinces and cities, including Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Xinjiang, to promote Haining's reputation as a hub for construction activities.Haining has implemented a realname management system for construction workers and is actively integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology with project management, thereby establishing a relatively mature digital construction and management system.

Worker Profile
As of 2021, Haining had 1,820 large-scale industrial enterprises, including one with an output value exceeding 100 billion CNY and five with output values exceeding 50 billion CNY.In 2021, the average number of employees in these industrial enterprises was 187,500.These workers were employed in various sectors, including traditional industries such as leather, textile, and home textiles, as well as high-tech industries like semiconductors, photovoltaics, and the digital economy core manufacturing sector.Most of these employees are characterized by their high mobility and originate from regions in the western and central parts of China, such as Yunnan, Henan, Gansu, and Guizhou.Approximately 15,000 laborers migrate to Haining from these regions each year.Haining receives an average of about 3,600 work-related injury cases and applications for labor capacity assessment annually, with more than 90% of these cases involving workshop workers and construction laborers.Among these workers, only a tiny minority come from large enterprises with wellestablished systems and comprehensive social security measures.Most injured workers are from factories with insufficient social protection, outdated equipment, and unclear organizational structures.

Questionnaire Design
The questionnaire used in this study was designed concerning the questionnaire from Ding Mengjie's master's thesis, "A Study on Work-Related Stress Among Female Construction Workers," completed in June 2021 [1].The survey questionnaire is divided into three sections.The first section serves as an introduction, outlining the purpose of the survey, its significance, and instructions for completing the questionnaire.The second section consists of two parts.Part one primarily investigates the personal information of injured workers in Haining, including age, education level, marital status, and monthly income, totaling seven items.Part two mainly explores the social stress faced by injured workers, including aspects related to the attitude of their employers, recovery time after the work-related injury, and the impact of the damage on their work and mental well-being, totaling seven items.The third section comprises a scale that primarily assesses stress originating from the workplace and the home.Workplace-related priority includes two dimensions: job characteristics and organizational factors.The ten items of job characteristics encompass the work environment, workload, and rewards.Organizational factors include role stress, organizational structure, and interpersonal relationships, with eleven items.Pressure from the home consists of economic burden, workfamily conflict, and personal skills, with nine items.The entire third section of the questionnaire employs a Likert five-point scale, where one indicates "strongly disagree", and five means "strongly agree".

Questionnaire distribution and scope
Haining 8 towns, 4 streets of the human social security station to accept more than 5000 yuan of work injuries in Haining City human and social security Bureau for identification.To obtain a more representative dataset, the subjects selected for this survey questionnaire were workers who had applied for work-related injury verification and labour capacity assessment at the Haining Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security.Due to the lower educational levels of the interviewed workers and the relatively extensive questionnaire, each questionnaire was administered with the presence of research personnel to explain questions and assist with responses to ensure the effectiveness of the answers.From August 22, 2022, to September 2, 2022, a total of 250 questionnaires were distributed, of which 225 were collected, resulting in a response rate of 90%.Of these, 208 questionnaires were considered valid, achieving an effective response rate of 92.4%, meeting the requirements for statistical analysis of the questionnaire.

Analysis of Sample Information
Table 1 reveals that the total sample size of this survey is 208, with 62.50% being male and 37.50% female.This indicates a significantly higher representation of males among injured workers.Regarding marital status, 53.8% are married, while only 5.30% are unmarried, and the divorced sample constitutes 33.70%.This divorce rate is considerably higher than the average divorce rate in Haining.Regarding educational attainment, 66.3% have completed education up to the level of junior high school or below, with fewer individuals having a high school education or higher.This is likely due to the relatively low educational requirements for employment in these worker positions.Regarding occupation, there is a higher proportion of workshop workers than construction laborers, likely attributed to the more significant number of manufacturing enterprises in Haining than construction companies.Analyzing age and length of service, approximately 60% of workers in Haining's industrial and construction sectors have more than ten years of work experience.The proportion of individuals older than 36 and those with more than 11 years of work experience exceeds 50%, indicating that many workers are middle-aged.As for monthly average income, most workers earn between 3,000 and 9,000 CNY.

Descriptive Statistical Analysis
In this section, a descriptive statistical analysis of the data collected in the third part of the questionnaire is conducted.The specific data are presented in Table 2. Table 2 data indicates that the overall level of workrelated stress for injured workers is 3.1772, with a standard error of 0.0783.This suggests that the stress level among injured workers in Haining is moderate, and the stress levels are relatively consistent.
Analyzing the mean values for each dimension/subdimension, it is evident that the highest stress levels are associated with economic burden and workload for injured workers in Haining.This can be attributed to their family backgrounds and job characteristics.Many of these workers come from underdeveloped regions in Western China, such as Yunnan, Henan, and Guizhou.Additionally, 33.70% of the sample is divorced, meaning these households rely on a single income source.Most of the model comprises individuals over the age of 36, who generally have lower levels of education and are limited to jobs with low entry requirements, often facing the responsibilities of supporting elderly family members and young children, leading to a substantial economic burden.Take J Company and H Construction for example Company J's workshop requires workers to work six days a week, with a two-shift system: day shift from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and night shift from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.Legal holidays are treated as regular workdays, resulting in long working hours and a heavy workload.Construction laborers face even more challenging conditions.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Construction Company H worked daily during non-lockdown periods, even on statutory holidays.They started work at sunrise and finished at 8 p.m., working until the project was completed, illustrating the high labour intensity they endure.

Analysis of Work-Related Stress Differences
To better understand the differences in work-related stress among employee groups, this study conducted analyses and tests for six control variables: gender, occupation, marital status, age, education level, and length of service.Gender and occupation are binary variables, and independent sample t-tests were used to analyze whether there are significant differences in work-related stress dimensions along these two variables.For control variables with more than two values, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for testing.
Analysis of Gender Differences: As shown in Table 3, there are no significant gender differences in the dimensions of work environment, workload, role stress, organizational structure, economic burden, and personal skills.However, women exhibit significantly higher stress levels in work rewards, interpersonal relationships, and work-family conflict than men.Both workshop workers and construction laborers are predominantly male occupations.Women may need more effort in such contexts to achieve the same compensation and job positions.Women often bear more family responsibilities, leading to more significant work-family conflict and the possibility of facing more discrimination.Analysis of Marital Differences: Table 5 shows significant differences in work-related stress across various dimensions except for the economic burden dimension based on marital status.
Table5.Marriage differences of work stress in different dimensions.
In general, workers who are divorced or widowed experience more significant work-related stress compared to those who are unmarried or married.Divorced or widowed workers often have to rely on a single source of income to support their entire household while caring for elderly family members and children without a partner to provide emotional support, leading to higher stress levels.Among unmarried and married workers, the stress levels vary across different dimensions.Available workers experience higher stress in measurements related to work characteristics and organizational factors, including work environment, workload, work rewards, role stress, and organizational structure.emotional skills.Furthermore, unmarried workers tend to experience more stress related to work characteristics and organizational factors because they are often younger, have less work experience, and face challenges adapting to their jobs and organizational culture.In contrast, many married workers are older, have more work experience, and have adapted to their work environment and corporate culture.They possess more social experience and can better adapt to their work.Married workers often seek job stability, strive to improve their skills, and foster good employee relationships to enhan ce work efficiency and better support their families, leading to higher stress levels related to emotional factors.
Analysis of Age Differences: Table 6 shows significant age differences in work-related stress related to work-family conflict and personal skills.
In the dimension of work-family conflict, individuals aged 26-35 and 36-50 experience significantly higher stress levels than other age groups.This may be attributed to workers aged 26-50 who have often established families and deal with various family responsibilities, such as marriage, parenting, caregiving, and elderly support.Their focus is more on family than personal matters, which results in higher stress levels associated with family responsibilities.
In the dimension of personal skills, individuals aged 36-50 experience significantly higher stress than other age groups.Those close to 36 may be in a career development phase where they seek personal growth to enhance their work environment and rewards, leading to increased stress.People close to the age of 50 may have greater stress due to aging skills and difficulties in learning new skills.Analysis of Educational Level Differences: As shown in Table 7, except for the dimensions of workload and economic burden, significant differences in workrelated stress are observed across various dimensions based on educational level.In dimensions such as work environment, work rewards, role stress, organizational structure, interpersonal relationships, work-family conflict, and personal skills, employees with a high school education experience the highest stress levels.This pattern suggests that workers with a high school education level face the most significant stress in these dimensions.It may be the case that these workers do not experience the substantial disadvantages of those with only an elementary or junior high school education, nor do they enjoy the clear advantages of those with a college or bachelor's degree.Consequently, they may perceive fewer prospects for improvement in personal skills, interpersonal relationships, and work environment, but at the same time, they face substantial challenges in achieving such improvements, leading to higher stress levels in these dimensions.workers are typically of an older age and may have different values and a generation gap when interacting with younger colleagues.They may also experience agerelated discrimination, contributing to higher stress levels in interpersonal relationships.In the dimension of personal skills, there is a trend in many organizations towards digitization and artificial intelligence.Workers with longer service may find that their existing skillset is no longer aligned with the requirements of the changing job landscape.Simultaneously, they may encounter difficulties in learning and adopting new skills, leading to higher stress levels in this dimension.

Analysis of the Social Pressure Faced by Injured Workers
As indicated in Table 9, 59.1% of the companies refuse to cooperate with the application for work-related injuries, primarily because they have not provided social security coverage for their employees.These companies often negotiate and terminate employee labour contracts, providing substantial financial compensation.Nearly half of the injured workers are forced to change departments or switch careers due to the impact of their injuries on their original positions.Even if they receive significant compensation, those who change careers are often unsatisfied because finding a suitable job in a different field can be challenging.Furthermore, 63.9% of workers worry about their livelihood after sustaining a work-related injury.Injured workers usually have a recovery period of 3-9 months, but due to economic burdens, 32.7% of workers return to work or engage in light manual labour during this recovery period.This highlights the significant financial and psychological stress that work-related injuries place on workers.

Analysis of Workplace-Related Stress
Faced by Injured Workers

Analysis of Stress in the Work Characteristics Dimension
As per Table 3, the mean value of the work characteristics dimension is 3.3385, while the organizational factors dimension is 3.0451.This indicates that work-related factors such as the work environment, wage distribution, and workload contribute significantly to the stress experienced by injured workers.Work Environment: Many industries in the Haining region involve exposure to chemical substances, including toxic and harmful factors.Worksite activities such as mixing cement, painting, and welding generate dust and irritating odors, leading to occupational health risks.The construction industry requires a lot of highaltitude work and night work, and the protective measures are not perfect.All of this makes workers less aware of the working environment and creates stress.
Workload: A significant portion of both factory and construction workers in Haining have workdays longer than 10 hours, involving extensive overtime, a tight work pace, and occasional shift work.Construction workers, in particular, face challenging conditions as they often work at heights, during the night, and with inadequate safety measures.Under the long-term highintensity labor, the workers lack of appropriate stress management methods, and the pressure is increasing, which affects the physical and mental health.
Work Rewards: The survey revealed that variations in compensation for similar work, a lack of learning opportunities, the inability of workers to utilize their skills, repetitive and monotonous work, a lack of sense of achievement at work, and a lack of confidence among most workers regarding their future development, all contribute to stress.

Analysis of Stress in the Organizational Factors Dimension
The overall stress level of employees in the organizational factors dimension is moderate.However, stress levels are relatively higher regarding limited opportunities for advancement, a lack of development space, and a sense of indifference within the organization.Recent years have seen industrial upgrades in Haining, which involve introducing advanced technologies and tools, green manufacturing, and intelligent production.This puts older employees under pressure to acquire new skills.While the entry threshold for factory and construction workers is low, the scope for advancement is also restricted.Many workers have lower academic qualifications, making pursuing higher education and enhancing their skills difficult.Injured workers require substantial time to recover from their injuries and may feel disconnected from the organization upon their return.Workloads in factories and construction sites are high, leaving little time for workers to care for those returning to work.Most injured workers do not receive support and care from the organization, leading to psychological stress.

Analysis of Family-Related Stress Faced by Injured Workers
This study found that stress from the family has a particular impact on the stress experienced by injured workers.

Economic Burden
Many of the surveyed workers are 36-50 and are responsible for supporting elderly family members and caring for their children, resulting in significant financial burdens.Delays in salary payments by employers also persist, contributing to work-related stress.

Family Conflicts
Workers in various positions on construction sites and factories are indispensable.Workers find it challenging to balance their work and family responsibilities when family needs arise.In cases where they cannot attend to family needs, family members may express dissatisfaction, causing psychological distress to the workers and adding to their work-related stress.

Summary of the Current Situation of Work Stress among Injured Workers in Haining Area
The data analysis of the survey sample indicates that work stress among injured workers in Haining primarily originates from three primary sources: the societal context, the workplace, and the family environment.Within the workplace, focus is further divided into two dimensions: job characteristics and organizational factors, while within the family, anxiety stems from economic burdens and family conflicts.On the whole, the level of work stress among injured workers in Haining is moderately balanced.However, specific dimensions exhibit slightly higher stress levels, with work characteristics and economic burdens being the primary contributors.Based on this, our study suggests the following recommendations to alleviate work stress among workshop and construction workers.

Enhancing the Working Environment
When adverse working conditions impact work and life, employees tend to experience dissatisfaction.Enterprises should conduct regular inspections to identify potential hazards within the workplace and ensure that the working environment is safe.Continuous safety and fire training should empower employees to protect themselves and prevent accidents, thus reducing stress levels [2].

Intensify Work Skill Training
In some cases, workers with relatively short tenure in the industry might experience job-role mismatches and disparities in pay for similar positions.Enterprises should provide workers guidance and professional skill training to prevent the stress arising from incongruences between their job skills and responsibilities.Skill shortages can impede company productivity and represent a widespread issue in the industrial and construction sectors.Therefore, providing training for workers to enhance their skills and further educating skilled workers is beneficial in improving work efficiency, enhancing the external image of enterprises, and addressing the shortage of highly skilled workers in China [3].

Cultivating a Harmonious Organizational Atmosphere
In daily work operations, respecting and encouraging employees to utilize their subjective initiative is essential.Recognizing and appreciating the extra efforts made by workers and assigning job tasks according to individual circumstances can foster a positive organizational atmosphere.Distributing tokens of appreciation or providing paid leave during specific holidays or in extreme weather conditions demonstrates a humane approach to managing stress.These measures are relatively cost-effective and can effectively prevent escalating stress levels among workers [4].

Encourage Other Family Members to Share Household Responsibilities
Family members should actively share household responsibilities, including domestic chores and economic burdens.This division of labour will help alleviate the limitations placed on injured workers.

Provide Understanding, Tolerance, and Support
Family members should strive to understand the challenges injured workers face, offering them empathy, care, and emotional support.Praising and encouraging injured workers for their dedicated efforts in their professional and family roles can significantly reduce work stress [2].

Enhance Regulatory Oversight and Improve Management Systems
Currently, labor departments in Haining primarily focus on handling work-related injury cases, with insufficient attention to safety supervision in enterprises and monitoring the timely payment of social security contributions by employers.There needs to be more enforcement personnel.The government must allocate resources to strengthen regulatory oversight and inspection efforts, promoting a culture of compliance with labor laws and social security policies.This ensures the protection of the rights and benefits of injured workers [5].

Implement Social Work Support Services
Injured workers often experience additional psychological stress due to physical disabilities.Social workers can be crucial in providing various forms of professional support.For instance, social workers can act as consultants, providing policy advice and assistance to workers who are temporarily unable to return to their posts.They can also focus on workers facing life difficulties or those with special service requirements, assisting them in connecting with organizational and government resources to provide necessary life support.In summary, social workers should develop diverse support services that address the unique needs of injured workers, helping to alleviate their work-related stress.

Conclusion
This study conducted a survey and data analysis on work-related stress among 208 injured workers, yielding the following conclusions: In work-related injuries, workers commonly express concerns about the impact of their injuries on their work.They exhibit low levels of trust in their employers and fear the loss of their financial resources.Work-related stress among these workers primarily stems from the burden of work tasks and economic responsibilities.However, several limitations remain within this study: Firstly, the limited sample size in the survey research, along with the exclusive focus on injured workers in the Haining area, introduces regional biases and may limit the generalizability of the research findings.Secondly, the study should have comprehensively investigated how industrial and construction enterprises manage worker stress, allowing further in-depth research.Finally, the dimensions and levels of work-related stress may change over time.Therefore, some stress management methods proposed in this paper must be continuously monitored and examined for long-term effectiveness.

Table 1 .
Basic information table of sample.

Table 2 .
Descriptive statistics of the samples.

Table 3 .
Gender differences of work stress in different dimensions.
Analysis of Length of Service Differences: As per Table 8, significant differences in work-related stress are observed in only the dimensions of interpersonal relationships and personal skills based on the length of service.In both these dimensions, longer work experience is associated with higher stress levels.Older

Table 9 .
Statistical table of pressures from society.