Development of a tool for assessment of VDT workplaces – A case study

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Abstract

Council Directive 90/270/EEC is mandatory for all member states of the European Union. This Directive globally specifies requirements in terms of health and safety that should be fulfilled at VDT workplaces. However, the Directive does not offer a tool that could be used by employers and assessors, for assessment of VDT workplaces. In order to design a tool that is completely in conformity with the Directive, the VDT workplace checklist has been created. The designed comprehensive VDT workplace checklist contains 24 areas with 140 control questions. The first 20 areas of the checklist fully meet the requirements of EU Directive. Four additional areas provide the universal character of the checklist, so that it can be successfully used for the evaluation of any human–computer system. In order to check the usability of the checklist and to provide a comprehensive insight into the state of the fulfillment of ergonomic requirements at VDT workplaces in industry, a case study was conducted. The research was performed for 582 VDT workplaces. The application of comparative methods in relation to the checklist did not reveal any additional area, regarding health and safety at VDT workplaces. Additionally, the checklist has proven as the valid and reliable tool for assessing VDT workplaces in the industry. The analysis of the results based on the application of the new checklist clearly indicates the areas within the human–computer system, which can be improved at certain VDT workplaces in industry. In this case study, the causes of registered deficiencies at VDT workplaces are analyzed, and certain solutions for the improvement are also proposed.

Relevance to industry

The study provides a useful tool for assessment of VDT workplaces, which is based on application of the checklist. In industry, employers and workplace assessors can successfully use this comprehensive tool for assessment of VDT workplaces.

Highlights

► We have been designed a new tool (checklist form) for assessment of VDT workplaces. ► The checklist possesses greater number of structural areas than other VDT checklists. ► It is fully in accordance with the EU Directive 90/270/EEC, has a universal character. ► Comparative methods did not reveal additional items previously not included. ► The checklist has proven as the valid and reliable tool for VDT workplace assessment.

Introduction

Council Directive 90/270/EEC (1990) “on the minimum safety and health requirements for work with display screen equipment” is mandatory for all member states of the European Union. Council Directive specifies the requirements from the domain of the human–computer interaction, which employers are obliged to take into account in assessment and improvements of workstations with video display terminal. However, the Directive does not offer to the employers a tool for assessment of VDT workplaces. Besides, the workplace risk assessors are not often experts in ergonomics, therefore usually they lack knowledge and methodology that they could apply to VDT workplace assessment. Recently, there are frequent complaints of risk assessors, on the shortage of available checklists for the risk assessment of VDT workplaces.

Considering what has been mentioned, the objective was designing of the complex tool that would be at the same time simple and applicable for assessment of fulfillment of health and safety requirements for VDT workplaces. After designing of the research methodology that is appropriate for this problem, our objective was to assess the applicability of the designed tool at various VDT workplaces. In that sense, the basic goal of this study was to design a practical, scientifically based tool for assessment of VDT workplaces, which comply with EU Directive 90/270/EEC. Moreover, our goal was to provide the checklist of a universal character, which would be applicable for assessment of any VDT workplace in the industry.

Based on many years of practical and professional engagement in the field of solving of problems of employees at VDT workplaces, and based on personal communication with some assessors of working conditions, we have come to the assumption that VDT workplaces in the industry of Serbia are not designed fully in accordance with ergonomic criteria and requirements. It was noticed that a certain number of VDT workplaces in some segments meets the ergonomic criteria, but in many other segments, it is not a case. For this reason, in order to improve the health and safety of workers, we decided to implement designed tool at a greater number of VDT workplaces in industry of Serbia, in order to gain a global picture of the fulfillment of various ergonomic requirements related to the VDT workplaces.

Section snippets

Development of the assessment tool

The global control of fulfillment of ergonomic requirements at workplaces is commonly done using checklists. The checklists contain a list of situations for which it can be presumed that might occur in given circumstances (Sinclair, 1995). The application of the checklists belongs to the group of evaluation methods, which in the case of video display terminal work enables a very realistic approach (Howarth, 1995). The application of VDT checklists can provide an overall insight into the state

Method

This case study comprised 582 VDT workplaces on the territory of Belgrade and a larger number of towns in Serbia. The total number of firms and institutions involved in this investigation amounts to 49. The firms were both from public and private sector. The research included small-sized, middle-sized and large-sized firms. Firms and institutions are selected so that they represent in a high degree the following branches of Serbian industry: Agriculture and food industry, Construction industry

Results

For the reason of compactness of presentation, some of the results regarding the conducted case study are presented in the last column of the appendix. This column contains classified answers to each question from the checklist, in accordance with the criterion that will be described below.

The fulfillment of ergonomic requirements from the checklist can be determined based on percent of “yes” answers for each question from the checklist. The last column from the appendix shows the

Analysis of the results

According to the results obtained for VDT workplaces in industry of Serbia (that are presented in the appendix), it is noticeable that of 24 areas in the applied VDT workplace checklist, only 8 areas do not have at all the BA answers. Ergonomic requirements that are fulfilled at the above average level at investigated VDT workplaces are found within the following areas of the checklist: mental stress, total size of work space, noise, temperature and airflow, humidity, software, other data input

Discussion

It can be considered that the basic reason for such a situation among the population of VDT users in Serbian industry is the lack of proper information. The vast majority of users and employers do not know what ergonomics is at all. In addition, they have no knowledge that VDT workplaces should meet certain safety and health requirements. In order to overcome the mentioned problem, it should be pointed out that a broader social campaign should be organized in order to inform the VDT user

Conclusion

Designed checklist in comparison to other checklists of similar type has the following advantages: it is fully complementary with the EU Directive 90/270/EEC, contains the larger number of areas and items in relation to other checklists, which makes it more complete in comparison to other checklists. Additionally, it can successfully be used by employers to improve VDT workplaces and also by accredited assessors, who are responsible for control of the health and safety conditions at the

Acknowledgments

We thank the employees and managers of the companies for their great support for this study. This study could not be completed without their full cooperation in carrying out the survey. This work is supported in a part by a grant from the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, Serbia.

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