The Superior Council of the Judiciary will create an Office of Occupational Health to promote the health and safety of judges, responding to a growing concern at European and national level for the physical and mental well-being of these professionals.
A note released this Wednesday indicates that “this initiative is in line with the right to decent and safe working conditionsenshrined in national legislation and in the European Pillar of Social Rights, which defends the protection of health and the adaptation of the work environment to the needs of workers.”
According to a study by the Permanent Observatory of Justice (OPJ) of the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, “many judges face important psychosocial risks, such as high levels of stress and difficulty reconciling professional and personal lifewhich makes it essential to reinforce support structures such as the Occupational Health Office (GSO).
The cabinet will initially be made up of an organizational psychologist, who will coordinate with an external occupational medicine company and the judicial management bodies, “to identify and mitigate professional and psychosocial risks“.
“The main functions of the GSO will be the analysis and improvement of working conditions, the prevention of diseases and accidents at work and the development of training activities for the management of stress and prevention of exhaustion. The OSG aims to contribute to the promotion of a healthier work environment, with direct benefits for the quality of life of judges and the effectiveness of the courts,” highlights the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM).
According to the OPJ study, published last year at the promotion’s national meeting, almost 17% of judges are at high risk of suffering from exhaustionwith consequences such as difficulty sleeping and depressive symptoms.
According to the study, the judges say work an average of 46 hours a weekbut in some areas they exceed 50, in reference to impacts on personal life, often taking work home, which continues into the weekend and affects the balance between family life.
Regarding the impact on health, risk levels were identified in 66.7% of the participants in the difficulty sleeping criterion, in 35.9% in the stress and in 26.2% in depressive symptoms.
Work in megaprocesses is the factor that contributes the most to the levels of stress Very high functional levels (65.8% of judges consider this job very stressful), but voluminous processes, meeting deadlines and lack of support to reconcile professional and personal life are also relevant stress factors.
Another study, promoted by the Association of Portuguese Judges, with the support of the CSM, the PGR and the Bar Association, states that judges are more subject to stress professionals than lawyers and prosecutors and resort more to psychological and psychiatric support to face the problem, but also to anxiolytics, antidepressants, alcohol and drugs.
Source: Observadora
