Does your workplace pose a health hazard?

By Maria Kegel

JAKARTA (JP): "Sara" used to boast about her 20/20 vision, but that was before she needed eyeglasses like many of the other employees at her office.

During the height of the monetary crisis, her company reduced office lighting to half of what it normally was in an effort to cut costs. Three months later, Sara needed reading glasses.

Whether it was a case of the poor lighting, reading small print or a combination of those and other factors, Sara shared the same fate as some of her colleagues three years after she started working for the company. She now wears bifocals.

Developing poor eyesight is one of several health risks associated with working in an office, and those who log long hours at the desk can be prone to other ailments over time, including carpal tunnel syndrome, respiratory infections and back and neck pain.

The chairman of the Indonesian Association of Occupational Health and Safety, Dr. Tan Malaka, attributed workers' complaints to several factors, but particularly their interaction with office equipment.

"Before, offices were just a place where people typed but now we have photocopiers, computers, air conditioners, and all of these are going to have an impact on people's health."

He said ergonomics -- the applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use for the safest and most efficient interaction -- needed to be addressed for worker health and safety.

The likelihood of problems is increasing, he added, because more workers are putting in extra hours at the office instead of rushing home after the traditional work day ends at 5 p.m.

Among the health hazards at the office is eye strain, which can result from the glare of a computer terminal caused by the angle of the light source in an office.

"Over time you are trying harder to read and you end up with sore eye muscles and that could lead to some more serious problems with your eyes and muscles," Tan said.

The light source as well as the level of lighting can cause problems, he added.

"If you're in the finance department, then you're dealing with numbers and small print, and you need a good level of illumination, and there is a standard for companies to follow," he said.

Article 10 of the manpower ministry's Regulation No. 7/1964 on health and cleanliness in the workplace states that every workplace has to have sufficient lighting for workers to carry out their tasks.

The top of the computer screen should be adjusted to eye level, otherwise workers will lean forward unnaturally and that strains back and neck muscles, he warned. A document holder that puts the copy at the same level as the screen can also aid in avoiding muscle strain.

Another problem is office chairs that cannot be adjusted to a worker's height or accommodate the natural curve of a person's spine.

"Sitting in a chair like this eight hours a day as well as the extra hours people put in will lead to lower back pain, which is very prevalent among office workers."

Sick building syndrome

Air conditioners, especially on a central system, are a health concern, and Tan said they were one of the culprits of "sick building syndrome", which is caused by poor air quality and exposure to chemicals.

One example of this is if maintenance workers spray the carpets with pesticides and the air conditioners are turned on while the carpets are still wet, causing vapors to circulate throughout the workplace.

The syndrome is marked by flu-like symptoms, ordinary bronchitis or upper respiratory trachea infections, and people usually explain it away as a cold they caught from someone else who had it the week before, he said.

Air conditioners are also responsible for an illness similar to Legionnaires' disease in that the bacteria (Legionella pneumophila) is the same, Tan said.

"The central air-conditioning unit is switched off on Friday evening and its water reservoir, which acts as a humidifier, is left over the weekend with bacteria rapidly multiplying in it," he explained.

If there is no occupational physician working at the company, the problem may be overlooked and other explanations will be made for the illness. There are about 600 occupational physicians in Indonesia, most of whom work at larger companies.

Tan said a personal physician would probably only become suspicious after seeing a number of ill people from the same building at the same time.

Even large photocopiers may put workers at risk as their toners contain solvent and the machines emit ozone, both of which are bad for the respiratory system, he said.

"We recommend that the photocopier be put in a well-ventilated room away from the general environment, so that no one inhales its emissions."

Computers pose little risk of giving off radiation, he said, because companies now produce low-radiation computers that are environmentally friendly.

Keyboards present different kinds of problems, including sticky keys which require you to strike them hard, which can affect your arms and hands, he said.

There are wrist supports specially designed for use with a keyboard and which are ergonomic for the hand.

Moving a mouse, which can sometimes stick, in a rotating fashion 40 hours a week can cause a sore arm, which, over time, can develop into carpal tunnel syndrome, he said.

The carpal tunnel is a narrow passageway between the bones and ligaments in your wrist. A median nerve, which controls sensation in the fingers and some muscles in the hand, passes through this tunnel along with some of the finger tendons.

Carpal tunnel syndrome develops when there is pressure on the median nerve where it goes through the carpal tunnel, and is characterized by numbness or pain that gets worse when you use your hand or wrist.

Who's responsible

In theory, companies are not 100 percent responsible for the health of their workers, Tan said.

Individuals should be partly responsible for their own health and not jeopardize themselves, but companies can support employees in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, for example, by prohibiting smoking in the office, he said.

However, Tan said companies should provide a safe and healthy working environment, which is in accordance with Law No. 1/1970 on safety in the workplace. The law states that every employee has the right to a safe workplace.

Companies should also provide their employees with ergonomic chairs that can be adjusted to fit a person's height and back, as well as good lighting.

"It's also the responsibility of the company to provide first aid in the office, good equipment to work with and training on safe working practices."

On the part of employees, they should follow rules and regulations on how long they should work, making sure they get adequate rest, he said.

Workers should also read the instruction manuals for computer terminals and be familiar with their operation, he said.

It is unhealthy to sit for four hours in one position, and Tan suggested office workers stand up once in a while and stretch, which helps circulation.

It is also a good idea to rest your eyes once an hour by closing them for half a minute to relax the muscles, he said.

The areas most affected by working with computers are a person's neck, back, shoulder and arms, so they require frequent exercise, he noted.

A safe and healthy workplace starts with people paying more attention to their environment and lifestyle, office managers who are concerned with health and safety in the office, consultation from experts in the field and office inspections to receive first-hand advice on the situation, Tan said.

"So many companies have their own doctors, it's just that the office managers don't ask about them," he said.

Tan also suggested companies invite (risk management) experts to conduct occasional walk-through inspections of large offices, during which the physical, ergonomic, biological and psychosocial factors in an office could be assessed.

If a problem area is found during the inspection, then it is necessary to pay more attention to it, he said.

For example, if the air conditioner is found to be a cause of complaint, its maintenance, engineering, how often the filter is cleaned and the practice of shampooing the carpets needs to be studied.

Nearby clinics are also a source of information and should be consulted, as they might have statistics on illnesses commonly experienced by the office staff.

Inspectors will be able to piece together a clearer picture of whether something is amiss in the environment by studying complaints from workers about their backs or necks, and if they experience headaches, blurred vision or sore arms.