Citation
(2001), "Trouble for computer workers", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 25 No. 2/3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2001.00325bab.006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2001, MCB UP Limited
Trouble for computer workers
Trouble for computer workers
Working with computers leads to problems, a congress of company doctors was told in Aachen, Germany. Delegates were told that the constant "pounding on the brain" from the flickering screen brought on stress and "spiritual overload".
The 1,100 doctors who attended, most of them employed full or part time in industry and commerce as house physicians, heard that workers' systems protested with muscle and back pains and, above all, headaches. In contrast to other health phenomena at work, not enough was yet known to devise a league table of ailments that might spring from over-frequent computer use, but the troubles caused were already beginning to overtake the "old technology" ailments such as damage to lungs or hearing.
One of the biggest problems was the fact that workers are continuously seated, not always in the most suitable way, that they are under time pressure and always need to be flexible with the resultant anxieties leading to higher staff turnover.
Research into the problems is going to continue.