Occupational Health and Safety in Call Centres - Research Proposal Example

Occupational health & safety in call centres Lecturer Call centres are becoming prominent work places in the current business environment. Although, these call centres provide good financial resources to the employees, it also causes health and safety issues to the employees. Call centre jobs necessitates the employees to sit in specific postures for long duration, and carry out repetitive tasks. This work schedule results in musculoskeletal injuries. In addition, the use of headsets and increased volume levels in it, because of high background noise, can lead to problems in the ear. Mental stress is also the cause of physical and mental problems in the employees. It distresses the employees, provokes their job dissatisfaction and discourages them to work in call centres. In addition, it leads to number of physical problems. Thus, effective management of call centres is essential for the resolution of employees’ health and safety problems because the stressful environment increases the risk of the low job satisfaction and deteriorates the performance of employees. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Findings 2.1. Physical injuries and discomforts 2.1.1 Working postures 3 2.1.2 Physical issues due to continuous use of headsets 6 2.2 Mental Stress 6 3.0 Conclusion 8 4.0 Recommendation 8 5.0 References 10 Occupational health & safety in call centres 1.0 Introduction Today, the development of call centres has become a worldwide phenomenon. Organizations develop in-house call centres to aptly service and support their customer base, and in other cases outsource those call centres operations to specialized call centre companies located in their country or in foreign countries. These call centres in foreign locations primarily in Asian countries are a common trend, as it contributes to the creation of new jobs for the local population, and importantly from the perspective of foreign companies, completion of their tasks at moderate to cheap labour. Whatever be the location or nature of call centres, a call centre can be defined as a physical place or organization, where either inbound or outbound or both types of telephone calls are handled by a set of employees, “usually with some amount of computer automation.” (Rouse, 2007). These call centres are “typically located within other industries such as banking and finance, insurance, travel services, telecommunications, road services, public utilities and agencies, and sales.” (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). Although these call centres provides benefits to both the local population and the foreign companies, the creation of new jobs and the entry of more employees are leading to number of problems for them, from the health and safety angle. 2.0 Findings 2.1 Physical injuries and discomforts 2. 1. 1 Working postures Employees working in call centres throughout the world work in a more or less same working environment, necessitating similar physical work or demands. That is, both the outbound and inbound call centres will necessitate the employees to sit in front of the computers for long hours, and initiate and answer phone calls with the aid headsets, even while entering in or retrieving data from the computers repeatedly using their hands. Thus, while carrying out these tasks in particularly designed work area, the employees will maintain specific working postures repeatedly and for longer durations, thus leading to health related problems specifically musculoskeletal injuries. “These disorders are commonly grouped under the term occupational overuse syndrome (OOS) and arise from work that involves maintenance of constrained, static or awkward postures and/or repetitive and/or forceful movements” (Commission for occupational safety and health, 2005). Occupational safety and health problems in a call centre arises due one of the basic issues of working posture. Awkward or problematic working posture happens, when the employees sit and work in a position, which are normal or comfortable. Normal or comfortable working posture constitutes having or maintaining “the trunk and head upright, arms by the side of the body, forearms hanging straight or at a right angle to the upper arm, and the hand in the handshake position.” (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). Any position other than these standard ones, and also other unnatural ones will lead to musculoskeletal injuries to the employees. “Problems include, for example, a keyboard, pointing device (mouse) or monitor at an incorrect height and/or distance from the body, resulting in awkward postures of the workers neck and shoulders.” (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). The key perspective is, maintaining an awkward working posture for a long duration and carrying out the allocated tasks in a repetitive manner causes or accentuates the physical injuries. The duration of a work refers to the length or extended length of time, an employee involves himself/herself in same pattern of work involving static or awkward postures and repetitive movement. Extended duration of the same work can make substantial negative effect on the human body, leading to general as well as muscle fatigue, setting the stage for more serious injuries. On the same lines, “repetition refers to the repeated performance of similar work tasks (or work cycles) involving the same body actions and the same muscles being used continuously.” (Commission for occupational safety and health, 2005). Thus, when awkward or even normal work is carried out for longer duration and in repetitive manner without adequate rests, it will lead to restricted blood flow, and also causes wear and tear in the muscles and bones of the employees, particularly in their upper part of the body, leading to musculoskeletal injuries. Neck, shoulders, wrists as well as the whole hand are the key parts which are affected by these injuries. In addition, continuous and awkward sitting can lead to decreased blood circulation, blood pooling in the legs and the nutrition of discs. (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). Importantly, repetitive keyboard use by the call centre employees over long periods can easily lead to hand and wrist pain and injury because of tendon and nerve related disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome. (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). 2. 1. 2 Physical issues due to continuous use of headsets One of the key components used for longer duration by the call centre employees, which are leading to health and safety issues, are the headsets. “NIOSH research shows that workers at call and dispatch centers may face several hazards, including acoustic trauma from a sudden spike in noise levels and background noise from an incoming call.” (Occupational Health and Safety, 2011). That is, normally in call centres, the decibel levels will be on the higher side due to the continuous and accentuated talking by the employees, and also due to the usage of many equipments. Thus, the heightened noise in call centres, primarily caused by conversations, noise from heating and air conditioning systems, etc., “may cause workers to turn up the headset volume, resulting in sudden increase in noise levels transmitted into their ears” (Occupational Health and Safety, 2011). When the volume of the headset is increased to abnormal or high levels, it could lead to various problems to the ears. Although, NIOSH evaluations of call centre employees in United States did not reveal hearing loss problems, most workers showed symptoms like “ringing in their ears, headaches, irritability, increased tension, and fatigue,” due to increased volume levels and continued use of headsets. 2. 2 Mental stress Mental stress and the related physical problems is a common feature of call centres because of the high demands and importantly because of monotonous work schedule without major career advancements. Most the call centres set unrealistic targets for the employees to fulfil. As these call centres caters and are answerable to the external companies or work giving customers, they come up with high targets for the employees to get into the good books of the companies, thereby creating a lot of stress in the employees. “Occupational stress can occur when workers are unable to satisfactorily adjust to demands and changes in a work environment.” (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). In addition, employees working in call centres carry out the same type of work, with little opportunities for their career development. These call centres “provides little task variation and autonomy (i.e. a worker having control over his/her work tasks and environment)”. (Commission for occupational safety and health, 2005). As they perform their routine job day after day, they see no prospects for their further career development. The career development is very important for any type of employees including call centre employees to get the necessary motivation to continue the job. As there are no major prospects for their career development, they grow dissatisfied with their position and thereby work schedule. Experts argue that poor job satisfaction can cause unwillingness of employees to continue their work, thereby leading to high staff turnover, and could also provoke internal conflicts in call centres, which involve not only employees, but also their managers. Thus, there are significant stressors that can deteriorate the employees’ performance, and thereby negatively impact the organization’s results. In addition, the mental stress will lead to grave physical problems as well. As Torpy, Lynm and Glass (2007) state, occupational stress can cause increase blood pressure, spasm of the coronary (heart) blood vessels, electrical instability in the heart’s conduction system, increased chances of heart attacks, affect respiratory system, etc. 3. 0 Conclusion Although, call centres offered employees high salary compared to the average salary in the outsourced countries, they suffer from enormous physical and mental strain and pressure because they work in a highly stressful environment. That is, due to specific work environments and organizational objectives prevalent in these call centres, the employees there are experiencing physical injuries and discomforts due to working posture, repetition and duration of work, as well as mental stress due to the nature and objectives of the work. In this respect, it can be implied that employers, who are capitalists, view employees as mere commodities. That is, employers use the labour of employees for their own interests and they are not interested in the life or well-being of employees. 4. 0 Recommendations It is paramount on the part of the employees to create a positive workplace environment because such an environment not only eliminates the above discussed health and safety issues but also contributes to the improvement of the employees’ performance. In that direction, the first issue of physical injuries due to work posture, repetition and duration has to be first managed. This can be done if the call centre companies incorporate ergonomic design in its work place, by using suitable furniture, arranging the workstation in a normal and ergonomic manner, and importantly by providing adequate rests to the employees. That is, employers need to buy and use furniture and other technological equipments which are adjustable according to the employees’ comforts, so the basic issue of wrong working posture can be avoided. “Workstation design should be aimed at providing comfortable and varied working postures, particularly where there is a need to repeat the task continuously or to maintain fixed postures for long periods.” (Department of Industrial Relations, 2003). The issue of carrying out repetitive tasks for long duration can be managed by providing adequate rests for the employees in optimal rest rooms. That is, call centres can create a relaxation area, which can also be termed as Chill Room, having a coffee machine, sports related features like table tennis table, pool table, punching bags, and even big couches for the staffs to sit and relax. (Dennis, Hanna and Matsebanane, 2007). To manage the issue of increased background noise and raising headset volumes, employers can “install noise controls to reduce background noise levels in the work environment” and “provide workers with a variety of communication headsets that offer adjustable volume controls, noise-limiting or cancelling features, and improved comfort and protection from ambient noise.” (Occupational Health and Safety, 2011). To reduce the mental stress, the above mentioned strategy of relaxation room can be a good choice. In addition, call centres employers should need to employ professional psychologists to help their employees to cope with stress. In addition, they need to invest in training programs to help their employees to cope with the stressful workplace environment. References Commission for occupational safety and health. (2005). Code of Practice: Occupational safety and health in call centres. Retrieved from: http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/worksafe/pdf/codes_of_practice/code_call_centre.pdf Dennis, P., Hanna, T and Matsebanane, D. (2007). FCS contact centre operations L2. Pearson Education. Department of Industrial Relations. (2003). A Guide to Health and Safety in the Call Centre Industry. Retrieved from: http://www.ergomotion.com.au/pdfs/A%20guide%20to%20health%20safety%20in%20call%20centres.pdf Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). (2011). NIOSH Releases Materials on Call Center Noise Hazards. Retrieved from: http://ohsonline.com/articles/2011/10/16/niosh-releases-materials-on-call-center-noise- hazards.aspx Rouse, M. (2007). Call Center. Retrieved from. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/call-center Torpy, J.M, Lynm C. L and Glass R.M. (2007). “Chronic Stress and the Heart.” Journal of American Medical Association. Retrieved from: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/298/14/1722.pdf Read More