Key ethical issues:
Elimination of dangers from the workplace
Exceeding legal obligations
How to avoid health and safety issues with IT equipment
EXAMPLE:
Bill’s new job was well paid, but several months on the job he began to suffer from aching in his upper back, and using the mouse and typing were beginning to be painful. Normally by Monday these aches and pains would be gone, but returned during the working week. Bill reported this to Jane, his employer and she looked at the arrangement of his work station. She saw that his chair was too low so that he had to reach up to the keyboard and mouse, and he had to look up to see the VDU screen. She bought another chair that was adjustable, both for seat and back height so that Bill could look straight on at the VDU as well has having adequate back support. She also bought him an adjustable keyboard tray which enabled him to adjust the height, tilt, and distance forward and back. Finally Jane arranged for Bill to do some less skilled tasks like filing and photocopying which gave him periodic breaks from his workstation.1
Health and safety in the workplace should be a universal concern in the business world. The concern with health and safety is not limited to nuclear installations, mines, factories and so on; it is as much a concern in the school and the office. The protection of workers, and the provision of a safe environment is an ethical obligation and a sound business practice. It is also a legal obligation. The ethical obligation arises from the agreement, explicit or implicit, that the employer and employee enter into - the employee agrees to do the work of the employer and the employer agrees to enable to work to be done. If the employer does not eliminate what dangers he can from the workplace, or does not tell the prospective employee about the dangers that cannot be eliminated, then he is failing in his moral obligation. He is also failing in his legal obligation. Furthermore the dictates of morality and law coincide with good business practice. The business case for health and safety at work is clear - healthy unharmed employees are more productive and more reliable than those whose health suffers, or who are injured at work. IT workers are not subject to the same dangers as factory workers, but there are dangers in normal IT desk work.
RSI - repetitive strain injury - is now well known. This includes a variety of disorders called of upper limb disorders (part of the general problem of musculoskeletal disorders - MSDs) found among those whose working day involves considerable use of a keyboard. These are the result of long spells of sitting and working at a desk where, because of the positioning of the display screen (or Visual Display Unit, VDU), the keyboard and the mouse, the employee does not change his position. MSDs are a serious problem for business - according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE):
In 2001/02 around 1.1 million people in Great Britain suffered from MSDs caused or made worse by work, and an estimated 12.3 million working days were lost due to work-related MSDs. On average each sufferer took 19.4 days off.2
In addition to MSDs, constant use of a VDU can result in problems with vision, and the use of computer software can often result in stress. There is no evidence that work with VDUs can cause disease or permanent damage to the eyes,3 but it can result in eyestrain - tired eyes or headache - and can also lead to awareness of already existing eye defects such as short sightedness. Stress can be found in any office work - resulting from the demands of deadlines, for example - but further stress can result from computer work when the system is not well understood, or is not working well.
The solution to many problems, especially musculoskeletal disorders, is to provide an adequate workstation. Various factors work together:
Sufficient space on and around the workstation
Positioning of the mouse, keyboard and VDU
Ability to adjust the height of the chair and VDU
Availability of a document holder, for working from document to screen
With regard to vision problems, the key factors are:
Movement of the VDU back and forth
Reduction of glare
Frequent breaks from screen work
In addition to providing an adequate workstation, the employer can engage in two simple interpersonal activities. These activities are both ethically desirable and good for business. Also there is some legal indication of their desirability.
First, and in general, the employer should take an interest in the comfort and health of the employee. If the employee is uncomfortable - the workplace is too cold or too noisy - the employer should, as far as practically possible, change the situation to allay these discomforts. Periodically the employer should check whether the employee is happy and comfortable and ask if there are any possible improvements. In this way the employer builds up a good relationship with the employee.
Secondly, if the employee has been absent through sickness, the employer should enquire after the illness and try to assess whether it was work related. If they have established a good working relationship, then it should be possible to discover whether or not this is the case. And, of course, if it is, the employer should make every effort to remedy the situation.
Compliance with Legislation, Standards and Guidelines
Poor design of work places and systems can affect employees’ well-being. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 place a burden on employers to consider the design of ways of working and the workplaces themselves. The Health and Safety Executive have published a set of guidelines on appropriate use of computing equipment which developers should also consider4.
The International Standards Organisation have published a number of standards documents relating to best practice for both human-centred design processes and the design itself. A widely cited one is ISO 9241, which gives lengthy guidance on the features of interactive systems and provides a useful definition of “usability”:
System usability comprises the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use, where:
- Effectiveness measures the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve specified goals;
- Efficiency measures the resources expended in relation to the accuracy and completeness with which users achieve goals;
- Satisfaction measures the freedom from discomfort, and positive attitudes towards the use of the product.” (from ISO 9241).
ISO 13407 (Human-Centred Design Processes or Interactive Systems) is also pertinent, giving guidance on appropriate development approaches.
Many businesses also develop their own design guidelines for in-house developers. Again these may address process issues (such as the identification and involvement of stakeholders) and detailed design aspects (such as good approaches to information presentation).
Heath and safety at work, and good relations, are ethically desirable, are good for business, and often are legally required. The HSE provides ample guidance concerning what is required, but sympathy and good sense can carry the employer much further in the creation of a productive work environment.
Further Reading
All of the health and safety advice is contained in HSE publications, both online and in hardcopy. The HSE's Health Directorate provides a webpage summarising its advice and linking to other, more complete, sources of advice.5 The booklet Officewise6 provides general HSE advice on office health and safety, including advice on IT; while the longer booklet Working with VDUs7 focuses on the use of VDUs.
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