Modern technology is erasing the boundaries between work and life leaving employers with new challenges in the prevention of workplace health, sick leave and inevitable legal problems. Ann Stirling, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy reports.
Employer obligations towards health & safety are more or less the same as they were twenty years ago, but employers now also need to consider how to support staff who are required to, or seem to feel they have to, work in diverse environments that are less easy to control than the traditional office. Modern flexible working, globalisation, mobile technology and business related social media usage means many office staff are not just working in the office or from nine to five, they work everywhere and at all times of day and night. There is also the issue of staff “overworking”. A recent survey by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) found that 64 percent of UK office staff work more than two hours extra each night on their commute and at home, using smartphones and other devices. The main reasons cited for this were to ‘ease the pressure of the working day’ (35 percent) and ‘too much work to do’ (33 percent).
Workstation assessments and ensuring staff have the right equipment, chairs and furniture remain vital of course. At hot desks in particular, staff need to understand how to adjust the seat and equipment such as computer screens and keyboards to suit them, products that work well for hot-desking include chairs that move intuitively to accommodate all shapes and sizes, so employees don’t need to spend time making myriad adjustments. Height-adjustable desks mean workers can move from sitting to standing at the touch of a button, which can really help with back pain and MSDs. There are even desks with treadmills attached that let you walk while working. But the best thing to do is encourage employees to take breaks, and get up and walk around.”
In this new era of mobile and flexible working, advice given to staff about safe working practices now needs to encompass their use of smartphones, laptops, tablets and other mobile devices. Consideration also needs to be given to where the person uses that device, whether that’s on the train or bus, in the car or a café, on the sofa or in bed. Physiotherapists are concerned that poor posture, when using mobile devices, contributed in no small part to the 7.5 million working days lost in 2011/12 due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). In the same period, the average number of working days lost per case of MSD was 17 days, two more than in 2010/11 (HSE).
In the CSP’s survey, 66 percent of people reported job-related ill health including headaches and back pain. Less than one-in-four people said they considered their posture when looking at screens outside of the office. The root causes for over-working using mobile devices also need to be explored.A certain level of pressure at work is normal. However, when the pressure regularly exceeds a person’s ability to cope they can end up not taking breaks, feeling overloaded and working extra time. Rather than helping the business, this can conversely lead to reduced productivity and time off work due to MSDs and stress. Chartered physiotherapist Léonie Dawson has some handy tips about what managers and employers can do: Talk with staff regularly about their work-load and how they are coping to help prevent problems happening in the first place; encourage a culture of movement in the office – getting up and stretching regularly, and taking at least a walk during longer breaks and encourage staff to report any health concerns sooner rather than later. MSDs are easier to treat in their early stages and recurrences can be prevented by learning good practice.
Provide staff with advice about how to use mobile devices safely. Investigate low cost or no cost services for employers such as, in England, the NHS Health for Work Advice service at www.health4work.nhs.uk or call 0800 077 88 44. The mobile challenge is not going to go away. Technology is continually evolving, more quickly perhaps than human physiology and society can adjust to. But with thought and planning, it is possible to avoid serious consequences to staff health and any knock on effects to business efficiency.
