Health Promotion Service, Sydney South West Area Health Service, Sydney, Australia.
BMC Public Health. 2010 Jan 31;10:50. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-50.
The role of workplaces in promoting active travel (walking, cycling or using public transport) is relatively unexplored. This study explores the potential for workplaces to reduce employees' driving to work in order to inform the development of workplace interventions for promoting active travel.
An analysis of a cross-sectional survey was conducted using data from parents/guardians whose children participated in the Central Sydney Walk to School Program in inner-west Sydney, Australia. A total of 888 parents/guardians who were employed and worked outside home were included in this analysis. The role of the workplace in regards to active travel was assessed by asking the respondents' level of agreement to eight statements including workplace encouragement of active travel, flexible working hours, public transport availability, convenient parking, shower and change rooms for employees and whether they lived or worked in a safe place. Self-reported main mode of journey to work and demographic data were collected through a self-administrated survey. Binary logistic regression modelling was used to ascertain independent predictors of driving to work.
Sixty nine per cent of respondents travelled to work by car, and 19% agreed with the statement, "My workplace encourages its employees to go to and from work by public transport, cycling and/or walking (active travel)." The survey respondents with a workplace encouraging active travel to work were significantly less likely to drive to work (49%) than those without this encouragement (73%) with an adjusted odds ratio (AOR) of 0.41 (95% CI 0.23-0.73, P = 0.002). Having convenient public transport close to the workplace or home was also an important factor that could discourage employees from driving to work with AOR 0.17 (95% CI 0.09-0.31, P < 0.0001) and AOR 0.50 (95% CI 0.28-0.90, P = 0.02) respectively. In contrast, convenient parking near the workplace significantly increased the likelihood of respondents driving to work (AOR 4.6, 95% CI 2.8-7.4, P < 0.0001).
There is a significant inverse association between the perception of workplace encouragement for active travel and driving to work. Increases in the number of workplaces that encourage their employees to commute to work via active travel could potentially lead to fewer employees driving to work. In order to make active travel more appealing than driving to work, workplace interventions should consider developing supportive workplace policies and environments.
工作场所在促进积极出行（步行、骑车或使用公共交通）方面的作用尚未得到充分探索。本研究旨在探讨工作场所减少员工开车上班的潜力，为制定促进积极出行的工作场所干预措施提供信息。
对澳大利亚悉尼市中心区参加“步行上学计划”的儿童的家长/监护人进行横断面调查，对调查数据进行分析。本分析共纳入 888 名在外工作的就业家长/监护人。通过询问受访者对以下 8 个陈述的认同程度来评估工作场所对积极出行的作用，这些陈述包括工作场所对积极出行的鼓励、弹性工作时间、公共交通的便利性、方便的停车设施、员工淋浴和更衣室，以及他们居住或工作的地方是否安全。通过自我管理的调查问卷收集了自我报告的主要上班交通方式和人口统计学数据。采用二元逻辑回归模型确定开车上班的独立预测因素。
69%的受访者开车上班，19%的受访者同意“我的工作场所鼓励员工乘坐公共交通工具、骑自行车和/或步行（积极出行）上下班”。与没有这种鼓励的受访者相比，工作场所鼓励积极出行的受访者开车上班的可能性显著降低（49%比 73%），调整后的比值比（AOR）为 0.41（95%可信区间 0.23-0.73，P = 0.002）。工作场所或家附近有方便的公共交通也是一个重要因素，可以降低员工开车上班的可能性，AOR 分别为 0.17（95%可信区间 0.09-0.31，P < 0.0001）和 0.50（95%可信区间 0.28-0.90，P = 0.02）。相比之下，工作场所附近方便的停车设施显著增加了受访者开车上班的可能性（AOR 4.6，95%可信区间 2.8-7.4，P < 0.0001）。
工作场所对积极出行的鼓励感知与开车上班呈显著负相关。如果更多的工作场所鼓励员工通过积极出行通勤，可能会有更少的员工开车上班。为了使积极出行比开车上班更具吸引力，工作场所干预措施应考虑制定支持性的工作场所政策和环境。
