Relationships of occupational hazards with burnout: an assessment of measures and models

A survey of aircraft maintenance technicians with the Canadian Forces (N = 157) found support for a model of burnout and occupational risk assessment. The model depicted employees' assessment of occupational risk as a function of the prevalence and lethalness of workplace hazards, as well as of the amount of control employees experience over their interactions with these hazards. A confirmatory factor analysis, in which LISREL analysis was used, supported an integrated model of risk perception and burnout. In this model, the employee's sense of control in managing occupational hazards was pivotal in both the experience of exhaustion and being at risk at work. Safety training contributed to perceived control and technicians' sense of effectiveness at work. The extension of the burnout construct beyond the human service domain was considered by using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey.