Abstract
This chapter offer to analyse a part of psychosocial risks of bus drivers in France. A qualitative study carried out with workplace bus drivers in the urban transport shows that in the companies investigated, there are clearly identified cases of physical assaults on drivers by passengers, individuals outside the bus and other road users. There is also the feeling that the drivers have to endure a growing number of various incivilities, rude, impolite behaviours. However, bus drivers have difficulties to objectify and evaluate this kind of risks. These risks are difficult to define exactly for bus drivers, for hierarchy, for unions too and there is no consensus about what’s constitutes an act of incivility and/or aggression. The instance of rudeness (spitting, swearing, etc.) affects some drivers more than others. It generates stress and fear and causes them to question their professional identity. The lack of common definitions, for the drivers, between them, unions and hierarchy could explain the difficulty to implement efficient policies within the firms.
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Notes
- 1.
See Chap. 3 for the analysis regarding the telecommunication sector in France (Editors’ note).
- 2.
See Chap. 3 for a focus on this point (Editors’ note).
- 3.
The names of companies have been changed for confidentially reasons.
- 4.
This research was sponsored by the Paris School of Economics, through a research agreement with LEST, the Institute of Labour Economics and Industrial Sociology.
- 5.
This approach is offered by ANACT at the following url:
http://www.anact.fr/web/actualite/essentiel?p_thingIdToShow=42643682
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Kornig, C., Chanut-Guieu, C., Domette, L., Louit-Martinod, N., Méhaut, P. (2017). How French Bus Drivers, Managers and Unions Talk About Incivility and Physical and Verbal Assaults at Work. In: Cassilde, S., Gilson, A. (eds) Psychosocial Health, Work and Language. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50545-9_4
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