Posted By Elizabeth Ashford
Good afternoon all,

I was wondering how other forum users approach the issue of office health and safety.

When office employees are approched during safety audits they are dismissive of how health and safety is relevant to them. After all, they say, all we do is sit at a desk.
(surrounded by cluttered floors and desks which you cant find space to fit a cup on).

Does anyone have any ideas on how to approach this and convey the importance?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards

Elizabeth

Posted By Sean Fraser
One word, Elizabeth - ergonomics.

Offices are usually considered low-risk environments, and in terms of injury statistics this is probably a valid view. But we are seeing a general change in focus away from injuries and towards ill-health - much of which is Work Related Upper Limb Disorders (WRULD)and MusculoSkeletal Disorders (MSD) which can in turn be traced back to poor ergonomics. And we are beginning to turn our attention towards mental health issues, primarily (dis)stress and resultant ill health caused by it. It is sobering to note that actual injuries probably account for less than 10% of the total misery and pain caused by the workplace.

The point on ill-health is that, unlike an injury, once it is identified it is often too late to reverse it and the affected person will probably have to suffer the consequences for a long time, perhaps even to the end of their life. The warning signs may not be there in advance, and although an injury may be immediate in terms of harm and visibility, ill health is often cumulative and insidious. So we can only rely on good organisation and effective communication to ensure the workplace operates safely but maybe more importantly - healthily.

Hence I wouldn't necessarily use safety stats as a means to promote the issue - there might not be any stats for your workplace as injuries tend to be infequent, low level and often go unreported! The real danger isn't falling off a chair - it is developing MSD that won't ever properly heal. Instead, try some general industry statistics on ill-health to support your case and show how ill-health is affecting our economy as a whole.

A good start would be the HSE Office safety section - it has an excellent free booklet called "Officewise" on it, but also one on ergonomics. For specific issues on MSD, there is another specialist section on the same site. Links to both are:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/officdex.htm


http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/index.htm

Hope that proves useful.

Posted By Chris Abbott
Hi Elizabeth,

Here is my take on the subject. Firstly, I am a Health & Safety Advisor for a publishing company and I spend around 75% of my time dealing with office workers. It's not the easiest job in the world (despite it being "low risk") because the first thing you have to get past is the office attitude, or as I call it, the "office mentality". Now, there is not real easy answer to your questions and believe that it mainly stems down from that old adage, "people buy people first, the product always come second".

When I came into the role I expected to be met with scepticism and I wasn't disappointed. However the real thing that helps is having management backing, because people will take notice. I started doing individual ergonomic assessments in our open plan departs, kept my voice at a certain level, never invaded the workspace of a person unless I felt that I was getting a positive response. Engaged each individual in conversation about all and anything - tried to find a thread that I could relate back to safety - this worked for me. I targeted the worst offenders, offered to help them clear the junk from their desks, re-organise their files. I helped them set-up a desk station that was more user-friendly, keyboard, mouse, telephone forward, Monitor at arms length, bla bla... Offered to remove small open door cabinets in favour of larger roller door ones etc, creating more space and generally being helpful where I could.

Most people see health & safety as a hindrance to their daily work... "We can't do that anymore, cos of 'ealth and safety!" - I remind people that I am there to help, not hinder - this approach works for me. I also suggest alternatives by pointing out things like - "this is really bad, and it's going to cause you problems later on, why not try this or that..."

It's not something that you can just do, office workers invariably don't see themselves as high-risk, and frankly they aren't (in the case of Construction, Production/Manufacturing workers) but they are at risk. I try to be objective and say, what is really going to affect these people in a big way, or, what can I see that's going to cause these people to be harmed at work. Once I know what I'm looking for, I attack - but with offers of help and suggestions to make life better. I don't hit them over the head with meaningless legislation that they don't understand, or want to understand. I try to put it in English - so they think it's my suggestion, and not a legal requirement etc...

Sorry.. seemed to have written a novel today!

Best,
Chris