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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 studies of working hours, bad working environment should be responsible for in- creased accident rates.