A risk assessment survey among employees in the banking sector found that the main risk factor perceived by the respondents is computer use and its related effects: poor sitting position (reported by 76%, leading to musculoskeletal disorders) and eye problems due to excessive use of screens (reported by 91%).
A team of Bulgarian experts, headed by Professor Ivanovich, department head at the National Centre of Public Health Protection, conducted a survey on working conditions in the banking sector, aimed at determining risk levels based on employees’ self-evaluation. A case study was carried out in 2004 in a large bank that has branches throughout the country. It covered 1,023 people, of whom 804 were women (79%) and 219 were men (21%). The results of the case study are representative for the particular bank, but may not fully reflect the entire banking sector in Bulgaria. Nonetheless, the data provide a useful starting point for general analysis.
Profile of the respondents
The banking sector is characterised by a predominance of female workers performing routine operations on computer. This suggests a clear gender dimension, which is represented proportionally in the survey. The prevailing age groups surveyed are 36-45 years of age (37%) and 26-35 years (29%). Some 40% report more than 20 years of total working experience. About 13% of employees (5% for men, 15% for women) have worked in the sector for more than 20 years. One in four has significant specialised working experience in the sector (6-15 years). Some 46% of banking employees are smokers (43% of men and 47% of women smoke).
Survey results
Working with computers
A total of 91% of the respondents work on a computer for more than four hours a day, including a group of 73% who do so for more than eight hours a day. Only a small proportion of respondents (4%) work with computers for less than four hours a day. The length of computer usage also shows a clear gender difference: only 2% of women, compared with 12% of men, work on computers for less than four hours a day.
Working environment indicators
- The number of computers in the workplace range from one to more than 25. Most employees work in an environment with one to six computers (72%), 12% of respondents work among seven to 15 computers, and 3% are exposed to more than 25 work stations.
- Risk factors are ranked as follows: working posture (sitting position, reported by 76% of employees: 78% of women and 72% of men), lighting (13%: 13% of women and 11% of men), noise (11%, no gender difference), dry air (10%: 10% of women and 8% of men), high psychological pressures (9%, no gender difference) and high work pace (5.5%, no gender difference).
- Inconveniences related to workplace design mainly concern video display units. The most common problems are inappropriate screen-to-eye distance, brightness, screen vibration and lighting.
- Nearly 42% evaluate their job as very strenuous. Another 52% find that their work risk is at a moderate level (no gender difference).
- The workload is perceived to cause the greatest strain for the back (reported by 57%: 58% of women and 52% of men), for the eyes (23%: 24% of women and 22.5% of men), and to a lesser extent for the upper and lower limbs (6%, no gender difference).
- Some 17% of respondents use protective equipment. Only 8% of men and 2% of women believe that protective equipment is unnecessary.
Work-related health problems
About half of the respondents (47%) feel that working conditions damage their health (no gender difference), although only 4% of employees believe that their working conditions are poor. Figure 3 illustrates the most common complaints by sex.
Further indicators regarding work-related health outcomes once again underline their strong correlation with gender, in that women are more affected than men.
- 46% of women and 31% of men wear corrective glasses;
- 16% of women and 10% of men have taken sick leave during the past 12 months.
Sources of work stress
Almost 40% of workers believe that work stress is caused by factors external to the workplace, followed by working conditions (23%), relationships with colleagues (14%) and relationships with management (5%).
Conclusions
Overall, 96% of the persons interviewed reported various work-related ailments. A gender breakdown reveals that women are more vulnerable than men with respect to certain complaints:
- female employees experience physical pain and discomfort more often;
- the feeling of fatigue appears earlier and increases more quickly among women (particularly after the fourth hour at work).
As a result, medical help in treating work-related complaints was needed by female employees more often than by male workers.
Source
Ivanovich, E., ‘Subjective assessment of banking employees concerning working conditions’, Health and Safety at Work Journal No. 4, 2005, pp. 6-13 (in Bulgarian).
Author: Rumiana Gladicheva
