Overwork In November 1994 a social
worker made legal history when a High Court judge held his employer liable for a
nervous breakdown which ended his career.. UNISON member, John Walker, 57, is
the first employee in Britain to sue an employer successfully for stress from
overwork. Mr Justice Colman ruled that Northumberland County
Council was liable for damages because of its unreasonable failure to provide a
safe system of work. UNISON is seeking a ￡ 200,000 compensation settlement for
Mr Walker, who said his employer had subjected him to "an impossible work-
load". Northumberland Council says it intends to appeal the judgement.
Hazards asked the government safety watchdog, the Health and Safety
Executive, for its com- merits on the settlement: "As far as we are concerned we
do not consider overwork and long hours a health and safety issue," said HSE
spokesman Phil Dent. Department of Employment figures for 1992
reveal the hours of overtime worked to be the equivalent of two million
full-time jobs. Nearly 50% of the British workforce report coming home
exhausted, compared with 36% in the US and 17% in the Netherlands. Time in
Britain Figures published by the European Commission in
September 1994 show that over the last ten years, working hours for men and
women in Europe have fallen by one or two hours a week--except in the UK, where
the numbers of men and women working long hours rose. More than
a quarter of British men employed in industry and services work more than 48
hours per week, by far the highest figure in Europe. Between
1983 and 1992 the proportion of men in the UK working more than 48 hours a week
rose from 22% to 28%. Three in five work Saturdays and two out of five Sundays
"usually or some- times". British men are spending longer hours and more
weekends at work and have less time to recover from work and to spend with their
families. For women the position is polarised (两极分化)--the ones
working long hours work very long hours, with the proportion working 45 hours up
from 6% to 9%. For the remainder, only Dutch women work fewer hours.
Only 14% of women in the UK worked full time in 1992. "Unions must break
the culture of working long hours," says Jane Paul, health, safety and equality
officer with the media union BEC- TU. "Otherwise we will continue to move
towards a labour force consisting of four groups of workers: a core of
intensively overworked employees; a periphery of part-time casual workers; an
informal labour market of people with three jobs to make ends meet; and the
unpaid volunteers and domestic workers." Research
Studies of working hours during the first and second World Wars showed a
link between long shifts, overtime working and an absence of rest breaks and
increased accident rates. More recent studies link stress with long hours of
work. Other research shows a fail in work output during longer shifts and,
again, rising accident rates 9,10. Reduced alertness, greater fatigue and sleep
loss have also been reported after a switch to 12 hour shifts. Overtime
monitored A study by the Institute of Psychology in
Stockholm found overtime damages the physical psychological and social
well-being of workers, even where the workers willing took on the extra work.
The workers, members of Swedish union SIF, were employed by the electronics firm
Ericcson. Before agreeing to a heavy work programme their union demanded and
management agreed that the health effects of the overtime work should be
monitored. The researchers found high levels of adrenaline
(肾上腺素), blood fats and slightly elevated blood pressure in the workforce. Maria
Sokolowski of SIF concluded the workers "were experiencing a permanent condition
of stress, which did not go away even a vacation of four weeks. After what might
be considered a propel rest they still felt worn out, irritated and in a bed
mood. The physical condition of the employees was much poorer now than at the
beginning of the project. "We now know that overtime during a
continuously long period of time affects the efficiency, well-being, level of
stress and social life of employees." The changes identified suggest a real risk
of long term health problems, particularly stress-related heart disease. Very
little Work has been undertaken on overwork and chronic health
problems. Union concern In the UK, university and
college lecturers are facing intolerable levels of work, according to trade
union reports. An October 1994 report from the Association of University
Teachers (AUT) warned they are being "tested to destruction" by long hours. And
a survey by university and college union NATFHE concluded lecturers were being
driven to the verge of nervous breakdown by stress, overwork and
uncertainty--nearly eight out of 10 said stress levels were unacceptable and one
in four said they had taken time off with stress. A May 1994
survey of 6,500 members by public sector union UNISON found they were
"demoralised(受挫的) and pessimistic". More than one in five (22%) said they were
expected to work unpaid overtime of up to 20 hours, per week. More than a third
said they had suffered, from work related health problems, with increased
workloads the main cause identified. And a 1994 survey of
British Telecom staff by the union STE revealed over half suffered work-related
stress. There was a clear relationship between number of hours worked and stress
symptoms. Over 80% routinely worked unpaid overtime. Transport
workers are also at risk. Ships’ officers union NUMAST say "scandalous(令人反感的)
hours" have contributed to soaring numbers of seafarers failing medical
examinations on psychiatric grounds. And a September 1994 report from the
T&G points to the effects of increasing workloads: "All the indications
suggest that fatigue related accidents are on the increase... we know only too
well how worried drivers themselves are about the excessive hours they are being
asked to work." Bus drivers are now doing 60% more overtime than the average
manual worker, goods drivers double. Annual hours Annual
hours systems have primarily been introduced to create flexibility for the
employer, to fit in with seasonal working patterns. Many firms demand a kind of
flexibility which makes family life impossible. So although annual hours systems
often include a shorter working week, they often include 12 hour shifts, more
night work and six or more days in a row. A glass works
introduced annual hours during the winter months, four twelve hour shifts--two
days, two nights--followed by six days off. So far, so good. But in the summer
months from May to October, hours were much less easy; six twelve hour
shifts--three days, three nights--followed by just four days off. In September
1994 two workers were dismissed for sleeping on night shift, One man, working
alone on a twelve hour night shift, had a heart attack and died before anyone
found him at shift change m the morning. According to the statistics in 1992 published by Department of Employment 36% of Dutch employees felt tired after work.