Map out a safer job
[Observer, Sunday July
29, 2001]
A technique called body mapping is helping employees
pinpoint hazards early, writes Caroline Palmer - and the TUC is
teaching how it's done.
The TUC is co-ordinating a silent revolution which
should transform the way workplace injuries are recognised and tackled.
It is incredibly simple to implement and will help workers to come
together and identify how their jobs are affecting their health.
A pilot study has already demonstrated how effective it can be.
The method is called body mapping and the TUC is
planning to train all its 200,000 safety representatives in its
use. The finishing touches are being made to the training materials,
which should be ready by September.
Peter Kirby, a TUC health and safety consultant
who set up the pilot training courses and has just finished a report
assessing their effectiveness, believes that body mapping can identify
hidden health hazards such as rashes, chest problems, aches, strains,
and stress. Individuals will often put these down to a personal
problem unrelated to work, not realising that their colleagues are
suffering similar symptoms.
There are no expensive consultants, complex questionnaires
or intrusive medicals. All that is needed is a group of workers,
a map of the body and some coloured stickers, pens or sticky notes.
The workers mark on the body map where they have any problems, and
patterns can be quickly seen.
'It is really straightforward and accessible, it
gets people together to talk about their health problems collectively,
there is no need to write and the process generates a discussion
about any trends that become apparent,' says Kirby.
The pilot studies involved 215 safety reps, who
after a two-day course took their maps and other materials back
to their workplaces and put them to use.
Three months on, the feedback Kirby has received
has been illuminating. One rep reported that he had discovered many
workers suffering from backache and sore shoulders, which indicated
that some machinery and workstations had been set up incorrectly.
He submitted his findings to his company's monthly health and safety
meeting. Since then, the workstations have been altered, a new risk
assessment has been undertaken and remedial action has been set
in motion.
Another rep reported that many women working in
a packing hall were suffering from specific aches caused by repetitive
work, while many men were reporting back and neck problems from
constant lifting. The management is buying new equipment to tackle
the problem.
Kirby has many other examples of health problems
that hadn't previously been picked up because people were suffering
in silence.
Body mapping is a perfect trade union tool because
not only does it identify these problems but it does so collectively,
so that patterns are identified among a group of workers and can
be tackled as a group, rather than an individual having to argue
alone about workplace injuries. The more workers there are reporting
the same symptoms, the more likely it is that the working environment
is a factor.
This was certainly the case in one of the more
remarkable pieces of feedback Kirby received from one of the pilot
course tutors: 'One rep who I have known for six months and had
many fascinating discussions with, mentioned something that had
never come out before. She said that in her workplace, a care home,
it was commonly accepted that if you worked there for about five
years you would need a hysterectomy because all the manual handling
was so bad.
'I think that body mapping has the double benefit
of enabling reps to spot themes and at the same time stop members
taking such things for granted.'
Body mapping was first used 30 years ago in Italy,
and has since spread to Spain, Mexico and the US. But it was in
the mid-Nineties, when it was taken up by the Canadian Union of
Public Employees and dominated the 1996 Canadian Labor Congress
on Health, that it came to wider attention.
According to Owen Tudor, senior policy officer
at the TUC: 'It will have a huge impact on the workplace. First
as an early warning system, particularly for the invisible problems,
the ones that don't get recorded in the accident book.
And although we have the second best record in
the world on injuries [after Finland], and are good at preventative
measures, we are not so good on tackling musculo-skeletal problems
and stress.
'Body mapping is not so good for stress, but it
is very good for tackling musculo-skeletal problems. People don't
put muscle twinges in an accident book, so it is hard to pick up
problems at an early stage.'
Tudor hopes that in the long term the scheme will
encourage workers to be more aware of their health and to take better
care of themselves.
'People in Britain are not good at looking after
their health or at demanding good occupational health. If you ask
safety reps what problems they face in improving health at work
they say the first problem is the employer - and the next biggest
problem is the workforce. But body mapping helps that workforce
take control of their health.'
Written on the body
• A group of cleaners reported soreness, pains
and aches in the wrists and lower back during a body mapping meeting.
Before the cleaning services were privatised, it
had been common practice to keep a buffer machine on each floor
and in each hut - if not the machines were lifted between floors
by two cleaners or by a cleaner and a janitor.
Privatisation meant there were fewer machines,
with the result that they sometimes have to be carried up or down
stairs, sometimes by one cleaner.
The cleaning staff are presenting a document to
their area supervisor with a view to a risk assessment being undertaken.
• A body-mapping exercise with a group of
teachers revealed a cluster of wrist pain, eyestrain and lower back
pain. It was suggested that this was due to increased use of computers.
Since computers were not regarded as essential,
operators shared a workstation - so all were subject to the same
ergonomics - and there was no time limit on its use.
Advisory notes, wrist pads and an adjustable chair
are now to be provided.
