The six pack – it’s all good, or is it?
Twenty years ago, the so-called ‘Six Pack’ came into effect and promised to shake up health and safety in Europe, especially with regards to manual handling, use of work equipment and display screen equipment. One of the general principles concerned the assessment of risk. Arguably, that was already an important part of the UK’s Health & Safety at Work etc., Act 1974, since protecting people from harm implied that the hazards had already been identified.
But the UK regulations implementing the European Directives, made risk assessment an explicit duty for employers. As an established ergonomics consultancy (we had already been going for more than ten years), System Concepts was well placed to take advantage of the increased demand for expertise, especially in manual handling and display screen equipment (DSE) ergonomics.
At the time, we were concerned that the Six Pack provided a tempting opportunity for less well qualified and experienced ‘experts’ to offer risk assessment services and undercut our own business. There were even furniture manufacturers offering ‘free’ DSE assessments provided that the organisation bought the ‘necessary’ accessories revealed by the assessment. I believe some organisations did indeed fall for this blatant conflict of interest.
In fact, by offering training in risk assessment and real expertise (when it was required), System Concepts came out of this period rather well, with more business from the increased awareness of ergonomics. We also added other health and safety services to our portfolio and this now accounts for a significant proportion of our business.
With the benefit of hindsight, I believe that whereas the manual handling operations regulations did result in organisations taking such issues more seriously, the DSE regulations actually encouraged employers to narrow their focus. Before the Six Pack we had found that some clients would read our manual handling recommendations, implement some and reject others, generally on the grounds of cost. After the Six Pack, our clients would still accept some of our recommendations but rather than reject any themselves, they would refer the issue up the hierarchy – in some cases to board level (who might still decide they couldn’t afford the measures).
However, the DSE Regulations introduced a distortion into the scene and encouraged employers to spend time and money singling out the ‘users’ to whom the Regulations applied and often going to great lengths to justify excluding others from this category. One reason for the fear was that users were entitled to eyetests and possibly glasses at the employer’s expense. In practice, I do not believe that eyetests or glasses have been that costly for industry but a lot of effort was wasted making the distinction.
So are we better off with the Six Pack in place? Almost certainly we are, although upper limb problems are still a major cause of ill health and absence. But as I look around at the current office scene, I see two potential problems on the horizon. The first is the growing use of mobile devices. System Concepts undertook the research that the Health and Safety Executive used when they updated the DSE Regulations to include laptops and portable computers but since then, mobile computing takes place everywhere on devices ranging from netbooks to tablets and smart phones. One consequence is that we seldom get the chance to switch off.
The other worry is the growth of fun and funky workplaces, which look more like coffee shops and lounges. Great for short meetings or quickly checking emails but not good when sitting for hours glued to screens and keyboard. We fought hard in the standards world to make equipment adjustable and flexible, and with good reason. Hours hunched over a trendy coffee table or unsupported in a big squishy chair will take their toll. At least the DSE Regulations give us some ammunition to explain to employers that they have a duty to care for their employees more.
Overall though, is it all good? No, but I am sure it would all have been a lot worse without the Six Pack.
Tom Stewart
Founder, System Concepts
www.system-concepts.com
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