Pains that show how you work

Press, 11 June 1977, Page 14

Pains that show how you work

“Threader’s wrist" and “brewer's arm" might sound humorous — but they are only two of a thousand ailments mhicli can make going to a work a daily nightmare, writes JUDSON BENNETT . . .

Production was threatened in the Paris factory that makes components for Renault cars when half the workers failed to turn up in the department in which holes are drilled in engine casings. “Driller’s elbow” had struck again. Some of the men had arms so stiff and swollen that they could hardly move them. And it had happened because the department had been equipped with new drills — at a different height

from the old ones. As a result, adjustments to the drilling head — needed at least once a minute — required arms to be raised at an awkward angle. Once the drills were lowered, “driller’s elbow” declined dramatically. In spite of the fact that every effort is made to make a worker’s life as painless as possible nowadays, at least a thousand occupational hazards are still known to specialists in industrial medicine. And regirdless of automation, they seem to be increasing. “Ailments like ‘threader’s wrist’ and ‘brewer’s arm’ might sound humorous to those who don’t have them,” says Dr Jerry Burrows, a specialist in industrial injury. “But for those who do, they can be a nightmare which robs them of a livelihood.” No-one, it seems, is immune from the aches and pains which come from earning a living.

Recently a secretary who typed 15,000 words a day on an electric typewriter suffered so badly from “typist’s cramp” in the wrists that her doctor ordered her to rest. Later she lost her job. She had a variation of writer’s cramp — its official name is teno-synovitis — which is recognised as an official industrial injury.

“Any repetitive action is likely 7 to put more than average strain on certain parts of the body,” says Dr Burrows. “And this can eventually lead to trouble.” One of the most recent

work ailments is “trolley back,” suffered by girls who spend the days collecting used crockery from tables in huge self-service restaurants. The constant off-balance reaching can cause seriously strained ligaments. But these girls are well down the league when it comes to having the most back-breaking jobs.

This dubious honour goes to watersiders, who are kept away from work on an average of almost four days a year by slipped "discs and other back troubles.

They are closely followed by miners and ironfoundry' workers. Indeed, problems associated with back trouble account for 15 per cent of the total yearly sickness absences. The least likely to need time off to nurse a backache are public servants and computer engineers. For those who need strength to do their jobs, a bad back can be a calamity. Dr Stephen Mattingly, an expert working at an industrial rehabilitation centre, explans: “A clerk with a bad back can usually return to his desk, but most heavy manual workers, over the age of 40 must accept some lighter work, some loss of independence, and a lower wage.”

Most of the. pains that come from hard work are less serious, but unpleasant all the same. For instance, there are “baker’s itch,” a skin complaint caused by contact with yeast, “bricklayer’s itch,” from lime mortar, “plasterer’s nail,” and “tanner’s ulcer.”

There are also “bricklayer's knee.” “miner’s elbow” and “porter’s shoulder.” These are al! variations of the same complaint — prepatellar bursitis, which involves inflammation of tissue.

Life on the production line has brought all manner of ailments with it. In the film, “Modern limes,” Charlie Chaplin played a factory hand condemned to a monotonous day tightening nuts. Even after

leaving the factory he went through the motions of handling the spanner in involuntary, twitching movements. He was illustrating a very real problem, now known as “occupational cramps,” which can affect anyone doing repetitive work. Sometimes, say doctors, the cramps have a psychological original the worker is so bored with the job that he gets what is called “occupational neurosis” and finds it physically impossible to do the work.

Recently, manufacturers, aware of these problems, have tried to make production-line jobs less boring. In the car industry this has ranged from altering the speed of the production line, to taking the car off the line for final trimming and allowing the men to work as a team on each vehicle. Volvo of Sweden has actually abandoned the production line in one of its factories, and as a result turnover has gone up and absenteeism down.

New ways of doing things can often take the strain off the human body. For instance, workers in an electrical components factory had complained for years that the constant screwing-in of fittings made their wrists ache abominably.

Finally, the problem was solved — by giving screwdrivers corkscrewlike handles. Production increased and complaints about wrist-ache fell dramatically. Even before we start work, our bodies sometimes start to complain about the way we treat them. For instance, doctors are becoming familiar with “student’s elbow,” said to be caused by studying textbooks while -upporting the head on the hands.

Or so the students ciaim. Some teachers have been heard to wonder whether it’s because the pupils fall asleep in that position.