HEALTH AND SAFETY AT THE WORKPLACE:
UWI, MONA

by Wilma Bailey*
Department of Geography & Geology

This paper reports on a small study conducted in January 2004 on the health of several categories of workers on the Mona campus. The study was undertaken by students in the MSc programme in Natural Resources Management (Integrated Urban and Rural Environmental Management). The aim of the study was to determine the types of hazards to which members of the UWI community are exposed, and the possible health consequences. The exercise formed part of the students’ in-course assessment.

A 20 per cent sample of six categories of staff was selected from the UWI internal telephone directory. The categories of staff were: the staff of the Health Centre; laboratory technicians; lecturers in three Faculties; librarians; maintenance workers; and secretaries. In all, 118 persons (49 per cent male and 62 per cent in the 40 and over age group) were interviewed over a two-week period. Those selected were informed via e-mail of the purpose of the survey. In most cases, appointments were made for the administering of a questionnaire. Where this was not possible, as in the case of the medical staff at the Health Centre, the questionnaires were self-administered.

Some minor difficulties were encountered. The telephone directory, for example, was out-of-date. The experiences of the students conducting the interviews were similar to those encountered in the society at large, in that interviewees in lower occupational categories were more receptive and lecturers less inclined to cooperate. The latter group was the only category of staff for which the target was not met. This was good training for real-life situations.

Chronic Conditions

As in the rest of the society, asthma was the most common chronic condition encountered in the survey, accounting for nearly 58 per cent of all complaints. This was followed by hypertension (26 per cent) and arthritis (11 per cent).

Age was an important factor explaining the occurrence of chronic complaints. Chronic complaints were most common among the staff of the Health Centre and the library, where employees were, on average, older, and least common among younger laboratory technicians.

Stressors

 The major occupational hazards were: the long hours of sitting; dust; noise; and lifting heavy objects/loads. For every hazard, librarians as a group appeared to be disadvantaged (see Table 1).

Table 1: Main Occupational Hazards, UWI Mona

It may appear surprising that librarians should find noise a problem in their work environment. However, the fact is that, even when noise is not at decibel levels considered harmful, it can be irritating when unwanted. Noise is unwanted sound, and prolonged conversations and the buzzing of cellular telephones in the libraries can be irritants.

Although not a problem overall, long hours of standing emerged as a problem for 60 per cent of the laboratory technicians.

Chemicals and solvents were a problem for some lecturers and maintenance workers, and health workers and laboratory technicians complained of latex allergies.

The respondents were asked whether they had been ill during the preceding four-week period, and pain was the most common complaint (57 per cent). Librarians, laboratory technicians and secretaries were most affected. The librarians and laboratory technicians complained of pain in the back and feet; the laboratory technicians had swollen feet and ankles, while the secretaries complained of back and wrist pain.

Twelve per cent of those interviewed had felt bouts of dizziness during the preceding month. Vertigo was one of the symptoms of the influenza which affected many persons on campus during this period (personal communication, Dr Blossom Anglin-Brown).

Protection

 Many categories of staff are provided with protective gear – masks, gloves, goggles – but few persons used them on all occasions in potentially hazardous situations.

A surprisingly large number of the lecturers who complained of the effects of chemicals confessed that they never wore masks. Maintenance workers found the protective gear uncomfortable. Eyes appeared to be most valued since goggles were the most utilized of all the devices; 80 per cent of those issued with goggles said they used them sometimes or always.

Ironically, gloves designed for protection were also a source of irritation. It was significant that almost all of those complaining of latex allergies used powdered latex gloves. The use of powder increases the possibility of adverse reaction since the latex proteins adhere to the grains of powder. Those who frequently change gloves run the risk of inhaling the latex/powder particles.

Conclusions

Occupational health can yield great dividends for the effort expended, and there are many ways of altering the relationship of workers to their workplace.

The problem of pain experienced by those who must spend long hours sitting or at a computer can be reduced by an investment in ergonomic products (chairs, negative-slope keyboards), backed up by training in posture and in the use of the products.

Noise in the library can be reduced by an insistence on the type of behaviour that is consistent with the purpose for which the facility is designed.

But there is also a need for a greater level of awareness among workers, and a greater level of willingness to take responsibility for their own health, for example, by using protective gear such as masks, gloves and goggles, or even by wearing support stockings.

 * In association with: Aisha Bedasse, Yvonne Coore-Johnson, Charmaine Cotterel, Kadie Ebanks, Sharon Graham, Philone Mantock, Elaine McFarlane, Oswald Morgan, Mirko Morant, Michael Pennycooke, Patricia Samuels, Authrine Scarlett, Elsa Summerville, and Christine Sutherland.