ADDRESS BY MR. TOM KITT T.D., MINISTER FOR LABOUR, TRADE AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS AT THE LAUNCH OF THE IRISH SOCIETY OF CHARTERED PHYSIOTHERAPISTS' GUIDE ENTITLED "ARE YOU FIT FOR THE OFFICE? IS THE OFFICE FIT FOR YOU?" ON TUESDAY 7TH JULY, 1998 AT THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to join you today to participate in the launch of your "Physiotherapy" guide "Are You Fit For The Office? Is The Office Fit For You?". A most appropriate title for a guide to be launched by a politician!!!

The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 is the principal piece of legislation dealing with occupational health and safety. It sets out in clear and unambiguous terms the responsibilities which both employers and employees have in relation to providing and maintaining a safe working environment. The Act also outlines the general duties of both employees and the self-employed. It specifies the duty on an employer to provide a written safety statement outlining the manner in which the health and safety of his employees is to be managed by identifying risks and hazards and by putting in place methods and systems to prevent and control these risks. The Act also makes provision for consultation at the place of work and selection of safety representatives.

The 1993 General Application Regulations implement a total of seven EU Directives laying down minimum requirements for health and safety standards in the workplace covering such issues as use of work equipment, use of personal protective equipment, working with visual display screens, manual handling of loads, safe use of electricity and so on. These Regulations impose both general and specific obligations on employers with regard to the reduction of the exposure of workers to hazards, the development of risk prevention policies and the training of workers.

The Health and Safety Authority has also published "Guides" which aim to set out in easily accessible ways the various duties and obligations of employers, and indeed employees, in ensuring that they maintain their places of work as safe as possible.

While we are often very well aware of the most obvious causes of injury, illness and even death in the workplace, we must also take care to look after the small things that can be a potential source of injury or illness too.

Office workers now comprise the largest single occupational group world-wide. Their numbers look set to accelerate even further with the rapid expansion in the use of computer networks to conduct our business. Manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, banking, insurance, hospitals and local authorities - not to mention our most treasured civil service - are all centred around working in offices. Furthermore, the more our working methods are controlled by computerisation the more the ratio of office staff to general operatives in any business increases. Whether we operate in a small one-person facility or are part of a large open-plan office with many desks and workstations, we must take care to ensure our working office is a healthy environment.

Although working in an office has often been considered a safe haven where injuries do not occur, we must by now realise that that is not always the case. "Is that office a safe place?" is indeed a good question to pose and we must do our utmost to ensure that the honest answer to that question is "yes". This is especially so when long spells are spent in front of a computer screen in a sedentary position.

From the literature I have read on today's topic, I better understand that the human body is structured for movement and functions best when active - not while in a sedentary position. Sedentary postures place a load upon the musculo skeletal system and I am advised that discomfort, pain and disability will be influenced by the amount, duration and distribution of that load.

When the body is in an optimum working position obviously the effects of strain are reduced. To achieve this;-

• chairs should be properly adjusted for each worker,
• monitors and keyboards should be positioned to allow for comfortable use, and
• wrist rests and document holders are useful extras for achieving best positions.

It is in this context, that I welcome the publication of this latest guide as a useful addition to the literature which the statutory bodies such as the Health and Safety Authority make available.

It may be a hackneyed phrase, but prevention is better than cure and today's guide should assist us in bringing home the message that discomfort, pain and absences from work with their attendant lost productivity can be avoided by careful planning and running of the office environment. Therefore, I am pleased to commend the Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists for bringing forward this latest guide on the healthy office.