For many of us, a large part of our lives are spent at work. For those who are chasing the coveted big name titles and a large paycheck, the time spent in front of the computer, rushing for deadlines, meeting clients etc could easily stretch up to 12 to 16 hours daily. Multiply this five to six days a week, up to 50 weeks a year, for at least 40 years.

With all that time spent at the office, it is common for health problems related to the workplace to surface during our lifetime.

According to the Workplace Safety and Health 2007 National Statistics published by the Workplace Safety and Health Council on Occupational Diseases (ODs), there were 602 confirmed cases of occupational diseases (ODs). This represents an 8.4% decline compared to the previous year of confirmed 657 cases. The overall OD incidence stood at 27.7 confirmed cases per 100,000
employed persons, down from 33.3 a year ago.

60% of the confirmed OD cases (359 cases) were contributed by the manufacturing sector in 2007, followed by construction, shipbuilding and ship repair. The manufacturing sector has the highest OD incidence at 82.4 confirmed cases per 100,000 employed persons. This was almost three times above the national average for 2007. Noise-induced deafness (NID) and industrial dermatitis (ID) continue to be the leading types of OD for 2007, contributing 81% and 10% respectively although these were lesser than compared to the year before. At the same time, barotrauma and
Work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMD) increased threefold.

Type of Occupational Diseases 2006-2007

Noise-induced deafness - 490
Industrial demantitis - 59
Work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMD) - 25
Barotrauma - 17
Excessive absorption of chemicals - 3
Occupational lung diseases - 3
Compressed air illness - 2
Other ODs - 3
Total 602

We ask Dr Benjamin Ng, Consultant Occupational Physician with Raffles Health Screeners, about the common workplace health ailments that afflict the working population.

“The two most common health issues I see are workplace stress and WRMD,” said Dr Ng.

In 1996, the World Health Organization labelled workplace stress a “worldwide epidemic”. The increase in job stress creates emotional, financial and safety concerns for employers and managers. It also has a negative impact on the business as well as on the individual employee. Stress in the workplace is not a new phenomenon, but it is becoming a greater threat to employees’ health and well being than ever before.

While technology has made aspects of many jobs easier, it has also added to the anxieties of office life through information overload, heightened pressure for productivity, and a threatening sense of impermanence in the workplace.

Office workers tend to be more prone to such office affliction due to the sedentary nature of the office work and their corresponding sedentary lifestyles and the sick building syndrome.

With sicker office workers comes a higher absenteeism rate and these will adversely affect a company’s productivity level. What then should companies do to improve the work environment?

Dr Ng indicated that in general, there should be a healthy lifestyle programme that aims to raise awareness among workers of the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and to provide them with the knowledge and skills to adopt healthy lifestyle practices.

The programme should promote four components of a healthy lifestyle:

Regular exercises
Healthy eating
No smoking
Managing stress

Ideally, the programmes should also work towards making the social and physical environment more supportive for healthy living. This includes the prevention of WRMD. Prevention of WRMD
would require better work and equipment designs to reduce repetitive use of one part of the limb.
However, this is not easy to achieve. An easier way is for office workers to take regular rest periods during working hours.

Stress on the job alsocreates high costs for businesses and institutions, reducing morale, productivity and earnings. It is in every employer’s best interests, fiscal and otherwise, to reduce workplace stress as much as possible.

Businesses can lower and prevent job stress through two methods:

Stress management programs and training for employees
Organisational changes that improve working conditions

No meaningful job or workplace is, or should be expected to be, stress free.However, less stress occurs when an organisation encourages employee participation from the bottom up, implements policies that take into account employees’ best interest, and empowers employees to do their best. While organisational change comes from management, there are still many things employees, individually or collectively, can do to reduce workplace stress:

- Stand Up For Yourself
Learn to say “no” when others take advantage of you or push you around.

- Eliminate Self-Defeating Behaviours
These include having inferiority feelings,
procrastination, people-pleasing actions, excessive worrying, fear of failure, inability to say “no” and having difficulty in decision making.

- Find Ways To Dispel Stress
Take time out, away from the office to recharge and refresh.