Kiang Wu Nursing College of Macau, Macau, People's Republic of China.
J Gambl Stud. 2013 Jun;29(2):255-68. doi: 10.1007/s10899-012-9301-5.
The Macau economy and employment of residents rely heavily on the gaming industry. It is important that the working conditions in casinos are not harmful to the health of the casino employees. This study examines the correlations between work conditions, unhealthy lifestyles and occupational health problems amongst casino croupiers in Macau. Its findings will provide casino managers and policy makers with evidence and awareness of the workplace health risks for the casino workers. The data were gathered by a questionnaire survey of 1,042 croupiers, which represents roughly 5 % of the croupier population in Macau. Work conditions were measured by worker satisfaction towards the biological, chemical and physical elements in their work environments. Unhealthy lifestyles were measured by practices of excessive drinking, smoking, electronic game playing and addictive substance use as well as gambling. Occupational health problems were measured by experiences of work related illnesses or symptoms. Results showed that high percentages of respondents were dissatisfied with the work conditions. On average each croupier experienced 10 work related health problems in the past 7 days. Over 5 % of the respondents drank more than three glasses of alcohol a day, 24 % smoked cigarettes, 12 % took addictive substances, 14 % gambled in the past 7 days. The analysis showed that dissatisfaction with work conditions did not correlate with unhealthy lifestyles but were strongly and significantly correlated with stress-related occupational health problems (R = 0.377-0.479, P < 0.001) and other occupational health problems (R = 0.348-0.461, P < 0.001). Casino workers in Macau experience a variety of problems associated with their work conditions that can be hazardous to their health. The working conditions in casinos need to be regularly monitored and improvements such as occupational health training and enhanced health related policies can be introduced.
澳门经济和居民就业严重依赖博彩业。确保赌场工作环境不会对赌场员工的健康造成危害非常重要。本研究考察了澳门赌场荷官的工作条件、不健康生活方式和职业健康问题之间的相关性。其研究结果将为赌场经理和决策者提供赌场工人工作场所健康风险的证据和意识。数据通过对 1042 名荷官的问卷调查收集，这大约占澳门荷官人口的 5%。工作条件通过工人对工作环境中的生物、化学和物理因素的满意度来衡量。不健康的生活方式通过过度饮酒、吸烟、电子游戏和成瘾物质使用以及赌博的习惯来衡量。职业健康问题通过与工作相关的疾病或症状的经历来衡量。结果表明，高比例的受访者对工作条件不满意。平均每个荷官在过去 7 天中经历了 10 次与工作相关的健康问题。超过 5%的受访者每天喝三杯以上的酒，24%的人吸烟，12%的人服用成瘾物质，14%的人在过去 7 天内赌博。分析表明，对工作条件的不满与不健康的生活方式无关，但与与压力相关的职业健康问题（R=0.377-0.479，P<0.001）和其他职业健康问题（R=0.348-0.461，P<0.001）呈强烈且显著相关。澳门赌场的工作人员经历了各种与工作条件相关的问题，这些问题可能对他们的健康造成危害。赌场的工作条件需要定期监测，可以引入职业健康培训和加强健康相关政策等改进措施。
