RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: It is essential to protect the health of healthcare workers who constitute a large part of the workforce worldwide and whose importance has become more evident after the recent pandemic. There are numerous occupational hazards for healthcare workers in hospitals. PURPOSE: The study aims to assess the exposure hazards of healthcare workers and their health complaints, as well as their awareness, knowledge, opinions, and attitudes towards occupational health and safety (OHS), considering workers' professions and departments in a public hospital. This cross-sectional study conducted a survey among healthcare workers (n=608) who worked at Yozgat City Hospital, Yozgat, Turkey. RESULTS: The majority of workers were nurses (43.4%, N=264/608). Latex exposure (63.7%, N=387/608) and noise (55.8%, N=339/608) were the most common exposed hazards, and the risk varies depending on their professions and job descriptions. However, the risk perception of workers was priorities of infectious diseases (48.5%, N=292/602) and violence (27.4%, N=165/602). Musculoskeletal system problems (71.9%, n=439/608) were observed very frequently in workers. Additionally, 9.2% (N=56/608) of workers were diagnosed with an occupational disease. The unit and profession most commonly diagnosed with occupational diseases were the laboratory (22.5%, N=9/40) and midwives (19.4%, N=14/72), respectively. The frequency of workers who stated that they had a work accident at least once in their lives was 31.9% (N=194/608), and higher frequencies belonged to nurses, health officers, and midwives. Additionally, the emergency department was the riskier unit. The study conducted relationship analyses between exposure to various occupational agents at different exposure frequencies and various health complaints. The relationships of occupational hazards such as chemotherapeutics, anesthetic gases, aerosol type drugs, sterilization and disinfection agents, xylene, toluene, formaldehyde, and surgical smoke with health complaints such as liver, dermal diseases, respiratory problems, and varicose veins have been determined. CONCLUSIONS: The hospital workers had a high rate of injuries to sharp objects and musculoskeletal systems. Remarkably, operating rooms and emergency rooms were found to be riskier in terms of work accidents. More than half of healthcare workers may delay using personal protective equipment (PPE) due to excessive workload. Further studies are needed on the effects of more specific occupational chemicals and diseases, such as varicose veins, fertility, and neurological problems. Frequent risk assessments, effective training, workload reduction, and biomarker monitoring are crucial for hospital workplace safety.

RESUMEN

Diagnosis improvement requires physician-nurse collaboration. This study explored nurses' concerns regarding physicians' diagnoses and how they were communicated to physicians. This cross-sectional study, employing a web-based questionnaire, included nurses registered on Japan's largest online media site from June 26, 2023, to July 31, 2023. The survey inquired whether participants felt concerned about a physician's diagnosis within a month, if they communicated their concerns once they arose, and, if not, their reasons. The reasons for not being investigated were also examined. The nurses' frequency of feeling concerned about a physician's diagnosis and the barriers to communicating these concerns to the physician were evaluated. Overall, 430 nurses answered the survey (female, 349 [81.2%]; median age, 45 [35-51] years; median years of experience, 19 [12-25]). Of the nurses, 61.2% experienced concerns about a physician's diagnosis within the past month; 52.5% felt concerned but did not communicate this to the physician. The most common reasons for not communicating included concern about the physician's pride, being ignored when communicating, and the nurse not believing that a diagnosis should be made. Our results highlight the need to foster psychologically safe workplaces for nurses and create educational programs encouraging nurse involvement in diagnosis.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Increasingly, information technology facilitates the storage and management of data useful for risk analysis and event prediction. Studies on data extraction related to occupational health and safety are increasingly available; however, due to its variability, the construction sector warrants special attention. This review is conducted under the research programs of the National Institute for Occupational Accident Insurance (Inail). OBJECTIVES: The research question focuses on identifying which data mining (DM) methods, among supervised, unsupervised, and others, are most appropriate for certain investigation objectives, types, and sources of data, as defined by the authors. METHODS: Scopus and ProQuest were the main sources from which we extracted studies in the field of construction, published between 2014 and 2023. The eligibility criteria applied in the selection of studies were based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). For exploratory purposes, we applied hierarchical clustering, while for in-depth analysis, we used principal component analysis (PCA) and meta-analysis. RESULTS: The search strategy based on the PRISMA eligibility criteria provided us with 63 out of 2234 potential articles, 206 observations, 89 methodologies, 4 survey purposes, 3 data sources, 7 data types, and 3 resource types. Cluster analysis and PCA organized the information included in the paper dataset into two dimensions and labels: "supervised methods, institutional dataset, and predictive and classificatory purposes" (correlation 0.97-8.18 × 10-1; p-value 7.67 × 10-55-1.28 × 10-22) and the second, Dim2 "not-supervised methods; project, simulation, literature, text data; monitoring, decision-making processes; machinery and environment" (corr. 0.84-0.47; p-value 5.79 × 10-25--3.59 × 10-6). We answered the research question regarding which method, among supervised, unsupervised, or other, is most suitable for application to data in the construction industry. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis provided an overall estimate of the better effectiveness of supervised methods (Odds Ratio = 0.71, Confidence Interval 0.53-0.96) compared to not-supervised methods.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained significant attention from researchers and practitioners due to its potential impact on employee attitudes and behaviors. This study investigates the influence of CSR on employee safety behavior, examining the mediating effects of job stress and organizational identification, as well as the moderating role of moral identity. We conducted a three-wave time-lagged survey among 236 South Korean employees. Participants were recruited through a research company using stratified random sampling. Data were collected at three time points, each separated by a 4-5-week interval. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings support all of the hypothesized relationships. CSR was positively related to safety behavior and negatively related to job stress. Job stress was negatively related to organizational identification, which in turn was positively related to safety behavior. The sequential mediation of job stress and organizational identification was significant. Moral identity moderated the relationship between CSR and job stress, such that the negative effect of CSR on job stress was stronger for employees with a high moral identity. This study contributes to the CSR literature by examining the impact of CSR on safety behavior and the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions of this relationship. The findings suggest that organizations can promote employee safety behavior by implementing CSR initiatives, which can reduce job stress and enhance organizational identification. Organizations should also consider the role of employees' moral identity when designing and communicating CSR initiatives.

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: To explore the occurrence, demographics, and circumstances of homicides of physicians. METHOD: Authors interrogated the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's surveillance system tracking violent deaths between 2003 and 2018 which integrates data from law enforcement and coroner/medical examiner reports. Authors identified cases of homicide decedents whose profession was physician, surgeon, or psychiatrist. Data collected included decedents' demographics as well as circumstances of death. RESULTS: Data were provided by 7-41 states as participating states increased over time. Fifty-six homicides were reported, most were male (73.2%) and white (76.8%). Most (67.9%) identified assailants reportedly knew decedents: 23.2% were perpetrated by partners/ex-partners; 10.7% by patients/patients' family members. Deaths were mainly due to gunshot wounds (44.6%), stabbing (16.1%), and blunt force trauma (16.1%). More (58.9%) homicides occurred at victims' homes than work (16.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Physician homicides are relatively rare and occur at lower rates than in the general population. Physicians were more frequently killed by partners or ex-partners than by patients. Most homicides occurred away from the workplace. Broader efforts are needed to promote interventions throughout America's violent society to reduce domestic/partner violence and gun violence.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

In an industry known for its workplace hazards, such as the management and manipulation of animals that could bite, kick or cause considerable damage simply because of their size, combined with long working hours, lifting of heavy loads and the general mental stress, it is perhaps surprising that the veterinary industry is not also known for its safety culture and structures. One would expect that where such hazards and risks have been identified, there would be many and varied levels of education on risk and hazard management, a comprehensive set of tools with which to mitigate these risks as well as discussion and debriefing of significant adverse events to ensure they do not occur again. One would also assume that there would be a strong sense of safety culture in the workplace and that personnel would expect each other to ensure that the health and safety of themselves and their colleagues was a number one priority. Yet, is this the case in the veterinary industry? A request was made by the Association of Veterinary Anaesthetists (AVA) to provide 'safety guidelines' for use in general practice, particularly pertaining to pregnancy. The AVA set up a task force to address these concerns and to determine if guidelines could be created. This article is offered as a starting point for considering safety in the veterinary industry in a broad sense, with the hope that in the future there may be development of such guidelines. It is hoped that this article also provides the stimulus for further research in this area.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Strong cultures of workplace safety and patient safety are both critical for advancing safety in healthcare and eliminating harm to both the healthcare workforce and patients. However, there is currently minimal published empirical evidence about the relationship between the perceptions of providers and staff on workplace safety culture and patient safety culture. METHODS: This study examined cross-sectional relationships between the core Surveys on Patient Safety Culture™ (SOPS®) Hospital Survey 2.0 patient safety culture measures and supplemental workplace safety culture measures. We used data from a pilot test in 2021 of the Workplace Safety Supplemental Item Set, which consisted of 6,684 respondents from 28 hospitals in 16 states. We performed multiple regressions to examine the relationships between the 11 patient safety culture measures and the 10 workplace safety culture measures. RESULTS: Sixty-nine (69) of 110 associations were statistically significant (mean standardized ß = 0.5; 0.58 < standardized ß < 0.95). The largest number of associations for the workplace safety culture measures with the patient safety culture measures were: (1) overall support from hospital leaders to ensure workplace safety; (2) being able to report workplace safety problems without negative consequences; and, (3) overall rating on workplace safety. The two associations with the strongest magnitude were between the overall rating on workplace safety and hospital management support for patient safety (standardized ß = 0.95) and hospital management support for workplace safety and hospital management support for patient safety (standardized ß = 0.93). CONCLUSIONS: Study results provide evidence that workplace safety culture and patient safety culture are fundamentally linked and both are vital to a strong and healthy culture of safety.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

AIM(S): To investigate spillover effects of organizational support for patient and workplace safety on safety outcomes and to examine the mediating role of safety compliance in these relationships. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, correlational survey design. METHODS: This study analysed data from 1255 nurses in 34 Korean hospitals. A structured questionnaire was used including items from the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture and Safety Compliance scales. Data were collected between February and June 2022. We employed structural equation modelling (SEM) for analysis with a significance level set at 0.05. RESULTS: Organizational support for patient and workplace safety showed direct impacts on patient and workplace safety outcomes. Findings supported our hypotheses regarding spillover effects, as organizational support for patient safety was related to enhanced workplace safety and organizational support for workplace safety was associated with improved patient safety. SEM analysis showed safety compliance's mediating role. When the distribution of serial indirect effects was examined, three out of eight indirect pathways were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Improving organizational support for patient safety can lead to better workplace safety outcome, and enhancing support for workplace safety can result in better patient safety outcome. Given this mutually beneficial relationship, healthcare organizations should simultaneously promote safety in both areas rather than focusing on just one. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: Study results highlight the need to recognize the interconnected nature of patient and workplace safety in order to achieve better overall safety outcomes. IMPACT: This study shows that organizational safety efforts for patients and workers are interconnected and mutually beneficial. The study's results have both theoretical and practical implications in demonstrating that organizational support for both patient and workplace safety plays a strong role in promoting nurses' safety compliance and improving overall safety outcomes. REPORTING METHOD: STROBE checklist. PATIENT CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

RESUMEN

Objectives: Sexual harassment (SH) is a prevalent issue in various professional fields worldwide. The current study aims to investigate the incidence of SH targeting psychiatrists in China and explore its impact on quality of life (QOL). Methods: A consecutive recruitment of 1093 psychiatrists was conducted from 6 hospitals in China. The recorded data included participants' socio-demographic characteristics, experiences of workplace SH within the previous year, and their QOL. SH comprised verbal harassment, physical harassment, and displaying of sexual organs. The Chinese version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief Version (WHOQOL-BREF) was employed to assess QOL. We compared the demographic characteristics and QOL between the SH group and the non-SH group. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent demographic correlates of SH. Results: In total, 13.8% (n = 151) of the psychiatrists reported SH, with 5.8% reporting it once, 4.4% reporting it twice, and 3.6% reporting it three times or more. Psychiatrists who had encountered SH exhibited lower QOL across social, psychological, physical, and environmental domains. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that young physicians and those with shorter work experience had a higher likelihood of experiencing SH. Conclusion: The high prevalence of SH among Chinese psychiatrists is of concern. Given its detrimental effects on the well-being of physicians and the quality of medical care they provide, it is crucial to develop specialized employee training programs for this population to effectively manage workplace SH.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Digital and technological solutions constitute a key enabler to achieving better workplace safety and health outcomes. Fundamentally, the success of their implementation is underscored by a need for employers, employees, industry stakeholders and policymakers to collaborate in adopting a "digital first" mindset. This review provides a background on the evolution of work and the workforce in post-independence Singapore, and introduces pertinent local workplace safety and health trends. It delves into how a "digital first" approach may be adopted and effected, followed by challenges and opportunities in the digitalization of Singapore's workplace safety and health landscape. Illustrative examples are used to highlight applications of digital and technological solutions in the control of occupational hazards. In our discussion, workplace strategies are built around the hierarchy of controls framework, whereas worker-related strategies are divided into workspace optimization for productivity/performance enhancement, training/education, and instituting surveillance/open reporting mechanisms. We demonstrate that with an open and forward-looking mind, and well-executed change management, we will be able to capitalize on technological advances to improve work and working conditions for all workers.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Occupational immunization is an integral part of institutional occupational safety and health (OSH) programs. Laboratory animal workers (LAWs) are personnel working with various small and large vertebrate animals. LAWs are at the risk of contracting a myriad of zoonotic infections as they are occupationally exposed to animals and their biological products. Immunizing employees against such zoonotic pathogens is the best way to prevent disease transmission. This review provides information on various zoonotic diseases, vaccines available to protect against such infections, and vaccination schedules. Certain sections of institutional occupational immunization programs such as risk evaluation, immunizing special categories of personnel and exemption from immunization among others are also described. Additionally, the authors have discussed various probable modes of impact through which occupational immunization of laboratory animal workers fulfills different United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: To combat increasing levels of violence in the emergency department (ED), hospitals have implemented several safety measures, including behavioral flags. These electronic health record (EHR)-based notifications alert future clinicians of past incidents of potentially threatening patient behavior, but observed racial disparities in their placement may unintentionally introduce bias in patient care. Little is known about how patients perceive these flags and the disparities that have been found in their placement. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate patient perceptions and perceived benefits and harms associated with the use of behavioral flags. METHODS: Twenty-five semistructured qualitative interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of patients in the ED of a large, urban, academic medical center who did not have a behavioral flag in their EHR. Interviews lasted 10-20 min and were recorded then transcribed. Thematic analysis of deidentified transcripts took place in NVivo 20 software (QSR International) using a general inductive approach. RESULTS: Participant perceptions of behavioral flags varied, with both positive and negative opinions being shared. Five key themes, each with subthemes, were identified: (1) benefits of behavioral flags, (2) concerns and potential harms of flags, (3) transparency with patients, (4) equity, and (5) ideas for improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Patient perspectives on the use of behavioral flags in the ED vary. While many saw flags as a helpful tool to mitigate violence, concerns around negative impacts on care, transparency, and equity were also shared. Insights from this stakeholder perspective may allow for health systems to make flags more effective without compromising equity or patient ideals.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Background: Healthcare-associated infections pose a substantial threat to the quality of healthcare services. Consequently, it is imperative for hospital organizations to actively support an infection prevention climate, fostering workplace safety and risk mitigation, thereby promoting patient-centered care. Purpose: This study aims to explore the interconnectedness between the infection prevention climate, workplace safety, risk mitigation, and patient-centered care. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, utilizing a questionnaire administered to 235 healthcare professionals in intensive care and inpatient units at Bandung Kiwari Regional General Hospital. Data analysis was conducted using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 and SPSS 25. Results: The study revealed several significant relationships, including (1) between infection prevention climate and patient-centered care; (2) infection prevention climate and workplace safety; (3) workplace safety and patient-centered care; (4) infection prevention climate and patient-centered care mediated by workplace safety; (5) infection prevention climate and risk mitigation; (6) risk mitigation and patient-centered care; (7) and the relationship between infection prevention climate and patient-centered care mediated by risk mitigation. Conclusion: Infection prevention climate emerges as a crucial intangible value that hospital organizations can cultivate to shape workplace safety. This, in turn, encourages healthcare workers' compliance in implementing infection prevention controls as a form of risk mitigation, ultimately contributing to the provision of patient-centered care.

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVES: In an era characterized by dynamic technological advancements, the well-being of the workforce remains a cornerstone of progress and sustainability. The evolving industrial landscape in the modern world has had a considerable influence on occupational health and safety (OHS). Ensuring the well-being of workers and creating safe working environments are not only ethical imperatives but also integral to maintaining operational efficiency and productivity. We aim to review the advancements that have taken place with a potential to reshape workplace safety with integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven new technologies to prevent occupational diseases and promote safety solutions. METHODS: The published literature was identified using scientific databases of Embase, PubMed, and Google scholar including a lower time bound of 1974 to capture chronological advances in occupational disease detection and technological solutions employed in industrial set-ups. RESULTS: AI-driven technologies are revolutionizing how organizations approach health and safety, offering predictive insights, real-time monitoring, and risk mitigation strategies that not only minimize accidents and hazards but also pave the way for a more proactive and responsive approach to safeguarding the workforce. CONCLUSION: As industries embrace the transformative potential of AI, a new frontier of possibilities emerges for enhancing workplace safety. This synergy between OHS and AI marks a pivotal moment in the quest for safer, healthier, and more sustainable workplaces.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Globally, close to one-third of all workplace violence (WV) occurs in the health sector. Exposure to WV among healthcare professionals in Ghana has been widely speculated, but there is limited evidence on the problem. This study therefore investigated WV, its risk factors, and the psychological consequences experienced by health workers in Ghana. METHODS: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted in the Greater Accra region from January 30 to May 31, 2023, involving selected health facilities. The participants for the study were selected using a simple random sampling technique based on probability proportional-to-size. The data analyses were performed using STATA 15 software. Logistic regression analyses were employed to identify the factors associated with WV, considering a significance level of p-value < 0.05. RESULTS: The study was conducted among 607 healthcare providers and support personnel across 10 public and private hospitals. The lifetime career, and one-year exposure to any form of WV was 414 (68.2%) [95% CI: (64.3-71.9%)] and 363 (59.8%) [95% CI: (55.8-63.7%)], respectively. Compared to other forms of WV, the majority of healthcare workers, 324 (53.4%) experienced verbal abuse within the past year, and a greater proportion, 85 (26.2%) became 'super alert' or vigilant and watchful following incidents of verbal abuse. Factors significantly linked to experiencing any form of WV in the previous 12 months were identified as follows: older age [AOR = 1.11 (1.06, 1.17)], working experience [AOR = 0.91 (0.86, 0.96)], having on-call responsibilities [AOR = 1.75 (1.17, 2.61)], and feeling adequately secure within health facility [AOR = 0.45 (0.26, 0.76)]. CONCLUSION: There was high occurrence of WV, and verbal abuse was the most experienced form of WV. Age, work experience, on-call duties, and security within workplace were associated with exposure to WV. Facility-based interventions are urgently needed to curb the incidence of WV, especially verbal abuse.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

INTRODUCTION: In 2014, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enacted a standard requiring employers to report work-related amputations to OSHA within 24 hours. We studied the characteristics of the injured workers and employer compliance with the regulation in Michigan. METHODS: Two independent data sets were used to compare work-related amputations from 2016 to 2018: employer reports to OSHA and the Michigan Multi-Source Injury and Illness Surveillance System (MMSIISS). We deterministically linked employer reports to OSHA with the MMSIISS by employee name, employer name, date, and type of amputation. RESULTS: We identified 1366 work-related amputations from 2016 to 2018; 575 were reported by employers to OSHA and 1153 were reported by hospitals to the MMSIISS. An overlap of 362 workers were reported in both systems, while 213 workers were only reported by employers to OSHA and 791 workers were only reported by hospitals. Employer compliance with the regulation was 42.1%. Employer compliance with reporting was significantly less in: agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (14.6%); construction (27.4%); retail trade (20.7%); arts, entertainment, and recreation (7.7%); accommodation and food services (13.0%); and other services (27.0%). Large employers and unionized employers were significantly more likely (67.9% and 92.7%, respectively) and small employers were significantly less likely (18.2%) to comply with the reporting rule. Enforcement inspections at 327 workplaces resulted in 403 violations; of those, 179 (54.7%) employers had not corrected the amputation hazard before the time of inspection. DISCUSSION: Michigan employers reported less than half of the work-related amputations required by OSHA's reporting regulation. Noncompliance was greatest in small employers, and agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; construction; arts, entertainment, and recreation; accommodation and food services; and retail and other service industries. Inspections found that over half of the employers had not corrected the hazard that caused the amputation at the time of the inspection's initial opening date; in these cases, abatement of any hazards identified would have occurred after the inspection. Improved compliance in employer reporting of work-related amputations will identify hazards posing a high risk of recurrence of injury to other workers from the same injury source. Greater compliance can also help target safety-related preventive and intervention efforts in industries that might otherwise be overlooked.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Occupational accidents in the plumbing activity in the construction sector in developing countries have high rates of work absenteeism. The productivity of enterprises is heavily influenced by it. OBJECTIVE: To propose a model based on the Plan, Do, Check, and Act cycle and data mining for the prevention of occupational accidents in the plumbing activity in the construction sector. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was administered on a total of 200 male technical workers in plumbing. It considers biological, biomechanical, chemical, and, physical risk factors. Three data mining algorithms were compared: Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes, and Decision Trees, classifying the occurrences occupational accident. The model was validated considering 20% of the data collected, maintaining the same proportion between accidents and non-accidents. The model was applied to data collected from the last 17 years of occupational accidents in the plumbing activity in a Colombian construction company. RESULTS: The results showed that, in 90.5% of the cases, the decision tree classifier (J48) correctly identified the possible cases of occupational accidents with the biological, chemical, and, biomechanical, risk factors training variables applied in the model. CONCLUSION: The results of this study are promising in that the model is efficient in predicting the occurrence of an occupational accident in the plumbing activity in the construction sector. For the accidents identified and the associated causes, a plan of measures to mitigate the risk of occupational accidents is proposed.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Digital technologies (DTs) have gained recognition for educating and training individuals, covering multiple areas in construction sector to enhance safety performance. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) focusing on DTs utilized for safety education and training in the construction sector since 2000 and explore their various application areas. METHODS: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed to conduct SLR and fifty-nine articles were identified. This study describes the research trends through bibliometric analysis, encompassing aspects such as annual publication counts, document sources, influential authors and documents, countries of origin, and prevalent research areas. RESULTS: The results revealed that immersive virtual reality (VR) technology has seen extensive utilization in educating and training individuals. In the context of application areas, most DTs concentrated on augmenting individuals' proficiency in recognizing hazards. CONCLUSION: The findings summarized the primary research domains, deliberated upon prevailing research gaps, and proposed forthcoming directions for applying DTs in safety training. The suggested future directions can potentially enhance safety training effectiveness within the construction firm.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of different approach directions, movement speeds, and trajectories of a co-robot's end-effector on workers' mental stress during handover tasks. BACKGROUND: Human-robot collaboration (HRC) is gaining attention in industry and academia. Understanding robot-related factors causing mental stress is crucial for designing collaborative tasks that minimize workers' stress. METHODS: Mental stress in HRC tasks was measured subjectively through self-reports and objectively through galvanic skin response (GSR) and electromyography (EMG). Robot-related factors including approach direction, movement speed, and trajectory were analyzed. RESULTS: Movement speed and approach direction had significant effects on subjective ratings, EMG, and GSR. High-speed and approaching from one side consistently resulted in higher fear, lower comfort, and predictability, as well as increased EMG and GSR signals, indicating higher mental stress. Movement trajectory affected GSR, with the sudden stop condition eliciting a stronger response compared to the constrained trajectory. Interaction effects between speed and approach direction were observed for "surprise" and "predictability" subjective ratings. At high speed, approach direction did not significantly differ, but at low speeds, approaching from the side was found to be more surprising and unpredictable compared to approaching from the front. CONCLUSION: The mental stress of workers during HRC is lower when the robot's end effector (1) approaches a worker within the worker's field of view, (2) approaches at a lower speed, or (3) follows a constrained trajectory. APPLICATION: The outcome of this study can serve as a guide to design HRC tasks with a low level of workers' mental stress.