Health strain

Health strains in the workplace can be psychological and physiological. Over the long term, they can cause health problems and even result in people being unable to Work.

Static working practices are among the most frequent physiological Workload factors - e.g. improper lifting and carrying methods, activities in awkward working positions and highly repetitive movements. The most frequent complaints associated with these are back and spinal disc problems.

Dynamically arranged workstations can help to avoid static working practices.

However, while physiological workloads in the workplace have decreased over recent years because workstations have become more ergonomic, psychological health strain has increased. Stress, boredom, being overstretched or underutilised and psychological fatigue are all risk factors that can contribute to burn-out syndrome.

In order to minimise health strain, it is advisable for companies to put in place their own health management system, (age-graded) personnel and organisational development systems, prevention programmes and opportunities for personal development.