Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA 2012-0081-3169: Lighting, Indoor Environmental Quality Concerns, and Job Stress at a Call Center – California

Details

• Personal Author:
  Burr, Gregory A. ; Choi, Jung Ho ; Ramsey, Jessica G. ; Wiegand, Douglas M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In February 2012, the AFGE submitted an HHE request to NIOSH regarding indoor lighting, IEQ, and job stress at a call center in California. We evaluated the call center on April 17-18, 2012. HHE Program investigators met with managers, local union representatives, and employees and observed work processes, practices, and workplace conditions throughout the call center. We measured illumination
  
  examined the ventilation systems
  
  and measured temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide throughout the workday. We also administered a voluntary survey of employees to assess their health and safety concerns as well as their perceptions of the psychosocial work environment. We collected 53 light measurements throughout the call center. The light level averaged 50.7 footcandles, meeting the U.S. GSA illumination recommendations. However, luminance levels (commonly called brightness) in the employee's field of view can cause glare. This glare may cause some of the visual discomfort reported by employees. The CO2 concentrations in the call center ranged from 410 to 635 ppm during this evaluation
  
  outdoor concentrations were 380 ppm. Indoor CO2 concentrations were similar to outdoor concentrations, suggesting that the call center ventilation was adequate. Temperature in the call center ranged from 68 degrees F to 76 degrees F, and relative humidity ranged from 43% to 49%, compared to an outdoor temperature of 60 degrees F to 71 degrees F and relative humidity ranging from 49% to 54%. These values are within the ASHRAE-recommended thermal comfort guidelines. We measured airflow at 71 of 86 ceiling diffusers. Airflow ranged from 0 cfm to 917 cfm, demonstrating that supply air was not evenly distributed to all occupied areas of the call center by the ventilation systems. We were unable to measure airflow at all diffusers because of furniture or file cabinets blocking access. We received 283 completed employee surveys (85% response rate) on job stress, work-related health and safety concerns, and psychosocial factors at work. Participants' reported levels of job stress and concerns for their health at work were moderately high. Most participants reported very little concern for their own personal safety at work. Some employees indicated that they were concerned about being physically attacked by a member of the public on the building grounds or by another call center employee. To address job stress, work-related health and safety concerns, and psychosocial factors we recommended creating a joint management and employee health and safety committee. We also recommended that a system be created for employees to document health and safety concerns. Management should use this system to keep employees informed about how concerns are being addressed. Suggestions for ways to reduce job stress were also provided. We recommended testing and balancing the ventilation systems and modifying the lighting design policy to take employee perception and satisfaction into consideration. Management should look into different parabolic louver designs that may better control light into the work area and reduce glare for employees working nearby. A guard rail should be installed on the loading dock that is used as an employee break area.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Health Eye Foreign Bodies Lighting Neoplasms Occupational Health Safety Stress, Psychological Surveys And Questionnaires
• Keywords:
  Administration Of Human Resource Programs (except Education, Public Health, And Veterans' Affairs Programs) Call Center Cancer Cancer-rates Eye-irritants IEQ Indoor-air-pollution Indoor-environmental-quality Job-stress Job Stress Lighting-systems Office-workers Office Building OSHA Region 9 Psychosocial Questionnaires Ventilation Work-operations Work-organization Work-practices

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA201200813169
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  36 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Booher, Donald E. ; Brown, Stefanie M. ; Feldman, Karl D. ; Galloway, Ellen ; Mueller, Charles ; Winfree, Mary
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042031
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2013-103593
• Citation:
  NIOSH [2012]. Health hazard evaluation report: evaluation of health effects of a chlorine gas release in a poultry processing plant – Arkansas. By Meza F, Mueller C, King B. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH HETA No. 2011-0128-3166,
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  923130 - Administration of Human Resource Programs (except Education, Public Health, and Veterans' Affairs Programs) - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:10d3a4738b7970f63d676caaaa98a971fe0a94864714c05faeaee88aa3787fd3f9334b6a5ee74ef8f728ac4976b36d2640a57acbde6274821ea2e13855e109c7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172477/cdc_172477_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.92 MB ]