Entering the call centre environment can be completely overwhelming – it is a different world. The experience is too fast, too loud, too bright, too condensed, and too stressful. Turnover of staff is increasing due to Companies not knowing what to look for.

2. Health & Safety in
the Contact Centre

3. Contact centres have a unique set of health and safety risks to people who
do this kind of work.
Manual tasks - Contact centres
Psychosocial hazards - Contact centres
Occupational stress
Workplace bullying
Violence and client aggression in contact centres
Fatigue - Contact centres
Visual fatigue
Vocal fatigue
Noise - Contact centres
Sedentary work - Contact centres
What are the risks?

4. Contact centre operators may be exposed to the risk of musculoskeletal
injury (e.g. soft tissue injuries to the neck, shoulder, back, wrists, and hands)
as a result of hazardous manual tasks involving:
Working postures (such as sitting at a workstation in awkward or sustained
positions) which can result in straining affected body parts or discomfort due to
reduced blood flow through the muscles.
Repetitive movements such as repeatedly performing similar movements using the
same body parts continuously. This may result in increased 'wear and tear' of body
tissue and greater potential for muscle fatigue.
Duration (or long periods of time doing similar activities without a break from these
activities) of a task can have a substantial effect on the likelihood of both general and
muscle fatigue.
Manual tasks - Contact centres

5. Contact centre operators often work in the same position (usually seated) for
prolonged periods. This can lead to fatigue or overexertion, or can contribute to
injuries, such as sprains or strains. Due to the nature of contact centre work, there is a
limited variety in the tasks that operators are required to perform.
Effective strategies to encourage regular changes in operators’ posture/activity
include:
implement task variety
schedule/encourage short regular breaks away from workstation.
promote and encourage workers to stand up and move around the workstation at appropriate
times during or between calls
take micro pauses (e.g. moving the hand off the mouse/keyboard when not using them)
locate printing/fax/forms away from the workstation to encourage movement
When scheduling work breaks, consider the location of amenities, including the distance away
from the work area, to allow adequate time to access these amenities.
Ways to minimise - Breaks and task variation

6. Psychosocial hazards are aspects of the work environment and the way that work is
organised that are associated with psychiatric, psychological and/or physical injury
or illness..
Work environment poses a unique combination of risks to psychological
health including:
high emotional demands
consistently high levels of customer service
high levels of work monitoring through systems and by supervisors
perceptions of low organisational, supervisor, and/or peer support.
What are Psychosocial hazards?

7. Psychosocial illness and injury risks to contact centre workers can be identified and
assessed:
through anonymous surveys
effective consultative practices
effective communication processes
review of injury reports
review of absence data.
How to assess the risks

8. Occupational stress describes the physical, mental, and emotional reactions of
workers who perceive that their work demands exceed their abilities and/or their
resources (such as time, access to help/support) to do the work.
Occupational stress risk factors include:
high mental, emotional and/or physical work demands
low control over work and the way it is organised
low levels of support from supervisors and peers
lack of role clarity or increased role confusion
poorly managed workplace conflict
poorly managed organisational change
a poor workplace justice climate
low levels of worker recognition and reward.
What is Occupational stress?

9. ensure workers have adequate training
ensure supervisors are adequately trained to provide timely and appropriate
performance management in a reasonable manner
ensure work demands are realistic and within workers' abilities, particularly
during peak periods
regularly review workloads to ensure workers have sufficient time and support
to meet their work demands
encourage workers to speak up at an early stage if they feel their task
demands are excessive
encourage workers to seek guidance from management about priorities
ensure worker's concerns are recorded in a register and reviewed
Ways to minimise

10. Workplace bullying can be defined as repeated behaviour by a person(s) at the
workplace that the worker considers unwelcome and unsolicited and that others
would also find to be:
offensive
intimidating
humiliating, or
threatening (other than sexual harassment).
What is workplace bullying (harassment) ?

11. Workplace bullying covers a wide range of behaviours ranging from subtle
intimidation to more obvious aggressive tactics, including:
abusing a person loudly, usually when others are present
repeated threats of dismissal or other severe punishment for no reason
leaving offensive messages on email or the telephone
sabotaging a person's work, for example, by deliberately withholding or supplying
incorrect information, hiding documents or equipment, not passing on messages
and getting a person into trouble in other ways
maliciously excluding and isolating a person from workplace activities
persistent and unjustified criticisms, often about petty, irrelevant or insignificant
matters
humiliating a person through gestures, sarcasm, criticism and insults, often in front
of customers, management or other workers
spreading gossip or false, malicious rumours about a person with an intent to
cause the person harm.
What is workplace bullying - Continued

12. develop and communicate a workplace bullying prevention policy
implement a system to manage informal and formal complaints
review the effectiveness of human resource systems
provide training and education on appropriate workplace behaviour to all workers
ensure senior management model appropriate behaviours
intervene early in workplace conflict to avoid the conflict escalating
promote open communication channels at the workplace to increase the informal
resolution of conflict
Ways to minimise risks from workplace bullying include:

13. Violence at work is defined as any incident in which a person is abused, threatened
or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. This definition includes verbal or
physical aggression directed at workers from contact centre clients or members of
the public. Contact centre workers may be exposed to verbal abuse from clients and
members of the public either face to face or over the phone.
Factors which can increase the risk of violence and client aggression include
situations where:
there are long waiting times for clients
there is an increased reliance on clients using automated technology
there is a need for workers to suppress emotions (such as anger or frustration)
there is an over-reliance on shiftwork and/or provision of 24 hour services.
What is violence and client aggression at work?

14. Develop & implement workplace policies and procedures to inform workers on how
to respond to threats from clients including violence, aggression and self-harm
ensure workers have easy access to procedures to deal with violence and client
aggression
provide timely support for contact centre workers following interactions with
aggressive clients
allow contact centre workers access to breakout areas to take a short break
following interactions with aggressive clients
provide workers access to employee assistance programs or other counselling
services.
Ways to minimise risks

15. Working night shifts, long hours or broken shifts can cause fatigue in contact centre
workers.
Several work and non-work factors are related to fatigue at work including:
inadequate amounts of sleep due to any cause (e.g. medical disorders, long
commuting times, extended work hours and overtime)
disruption to sleep cycles
poor quality sleep
emotional issues
lifestyle factors.
What causes fatigue in contact centre workers?

16. Visual fatigue occurs when certain eye muscles tighten during visually intense tasks,
including continuously focusing on computer monitors. The tightening of the eye
muscles can cause the eyes to get irritated and uncomfortable.
Contact workers can experience visual fatigue because their work involves:
using one or more computer monitors
tedious visual tasks that require the worker to focus on computer monitors for
extended, uninterrupted periods of time.
What are the symptoms of visual fatigue?
sore eyes
blurred vision
tired eyes
headaches.
What is visual fatigue?

17. install adjustable monitors, keyboards, desktops, document holders, footrests,
chairs and headsets
install high resolution visual display unit monitors and larger screens
install software that is easy to understand and operate
keep monitor screens free from glare and reflections by controlling ambient light
conditions, position monitor to control glare and minimise reflections
reduce the dust in the work environment
Encourage workers to use good work practices such as:
adjust monitor brightness and contrast settings
keep the monitor screen clean, (that is free from dust and smears)
place reference material in the best position to maximise visual comfort
use appropriate font, font size and colours on monitors
exercise and stretch the eye muscles - use pop-up reminders to prompt users
take regular and frequent breaks (in addition to scheduled and personal breaks)
see an optometrist if having problems. This is especially important for those
workers who wear multifocal lenses.
Ways to minimise the visual fatigue

18. Excessive talking can affect both the voice and the throat. Contact centres where
inbound and outbound calls are constant are likely to cause more vocal fatigue than
a contact centre where calls are less frequent or involve administrative duties.
Other factors that may affect vocal fatigue include:
how repetitive the talking is
consumption of coffee, tea and caffeinated soft drinks that dehydrate the body and
voice
position of the call handler's microphone - if incorrect it may cause excessive vocal
feedback, or cause the call handler to raise their voice to be heard.
What causes vocal fatigue?

19. Total or intermittent loss of voice
Changes in pitch and restricted pitch range
Decrease in volume
Pitch breaks on words or phrases
Constant throat clearing
Voice fades out at the end of a sentence
Dryness in the throat and excessive mucous
Sensation of lump or pain in the throat
Increased effort to talk
Difficulty in swallowing
Shortness of breath.
What are the symptoms of vocal fatigue?

20. minimise background noise levels
provide volume controls on the headset
develop reasonable call targets so that voice overuse is not encouraged
ensure calls are rotated between call handlers - to prevent calls being received at
a single station
write scripts that include pauses
provide regular voice breaks - five minutes of non-vocal time per hour
arrange more non-vocal time, where the volume of calls is high or the work is
very repetitive
provide easy access to drinking water
provide training on headset use - positioning of microphone, volume controls, as
well as voice care training and awareness.
Ways to ensure vocal health

21. How are contact centre workers exposed to noise?
Most contact centres operate as an open office type environment exposing workers
to noise from a number of different sources, including:
ringing phones
voices of other workers
office equipment
Customers
A background noise level greater than 60 dB(A) could cause the call handler to turn
up the volume on the headset to hear over the noise. This practice may increase the
risk of acoustic shock occurring as well as noise induced hearing loss in the long
term if acoustic shock protection devices are not attached to headsets.
Noise in the Contact Centre

22. use sound absorbent materials and partitions of a suitable height in the design of
contact centre work stations and breakout areas
ensure office equipment such as printers and photocopiers are separated from
the immediate work area
identify and remove faulty telephone lines and headsets
hold team meetings and briefings outside the immediate work area
encourage workers to not speak loudly or to hold conversations near call
handlers, particularly during shift changeover
train call handlers to control voice levels.
Ways to minimise the risks

23. Contact centre workers may experience acoustic incidents such as a sudden loud
shriek or piercing tone through their headsets. This can lead to an acute startle
response and/or pain in the ear. Rarely some operators experience on-going
symptoms. This is more common where workers have high levels of stress.
What is an acoustic incident?

24. attach acoustic output limiter devices to headsets
reduce the level of background noise in the contact centre
ensure damaged equipment and network faults are repaired promptly
ensure call handlers are trained in the proper fitting and use of headsets to reduce
feedback
implement policies and procedures for identifying and removing faulty headsets
implement a mobile phone policy that prevents the use of mobile phones in the
contact centre
train call handlers and supervisors in identifying an acoustic incident
Ways to minimise the risks

25. Call handlers wear headsets for long periods of time during their working day.
This may present an increased risk of ear irritation and infection.
Headset hygiene should be maintained to prevent the spread of infectious
diseases such as common colds and influenza.
Control strategies include:
supply each agent with a personal headset
train all agents in the regular cleaning and maintenance of headsets
provide telephone, wireless or appropriate corded headsets that allow the
operator to stand up and move around
ensure that the headset is appropriately adjusted to suit the operator
provide headsets with double earpieces to minimise external noise
Headset hygiene

26. Contact centre workers spend a large part of their working day sitting in front of a
computer monitor in what is defined as sedentary work (i.e. prolonged periods of
inactivity, and an absence of whole body movement). The human body is designed
for movement and should alternate between sitting, standing and activities such as
walking.
Benefits of sitting less and moving more include:
lower risk of musculoskeletal pain, discomfort and injury, particularly of the lower
back and neck
lower risk of developing coronary heart disease
lower risk of developing diabetes
lower risk of eye strain or fatigue
healthy maintenance of the circulatory system and digestive tract.
Sedentary work - Contact centres

27. Ways to minimise the health and safety risks from sedentary work include:
use job task variation
provide height adjustable
use cordless headsets that allow call handlers to stand and move around
promote and support standing team meetings
ensure all workers take regular and frequent breaks throughout the day
encourage workers to take meal breaks away from their desks
locate printers, photocopiers and water coolers away from the workstation
alternate between sitting, standing and walking.
Ways to minimise risks from Sedentary work