OHS REPS @ WORK

There are many sources of information on call centres.  Here are a few:

• The Good Practice Guide for OHS in Call Centres,  developed by the ASU with funding from WorkSafe Victoria, can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
• ACTU Guidelines for Screen Based Work which covers all aspects of working with computers.
• Call Central - the ACTU campaign webpage for Call Centres. On this site is a copy of the ACTU Call Centre Minimum Standards Code, to which companies can sign up. The site also has the latest campaign news,and more. These are temporarily unavailable but should be back on the ACTU website soon.
• Officewise - A guide to health and safety in the office This is a government produced manual which provides information on a wide range of office related issues.
• Queensland Code of Practice for Call Centres [ pdf]
• Western Australian Code of Practice for Occupational Health and Safety in Call Centres (2005) [pdf]
• Publications from the UK's HSE:
• • A lengthy document with loads of very useful information and advice: Advice regarding call centre working practices (2001) 
  • Psychosocial risk factors in call centres: An evaluation of work design and well-being - a research report on whether working as a call handler is more stressful than working in other jobs, what makes working in call centres stressful and what can be done to reduce the psychosocial risks associated with working as a call handler.
  • A  statement and new Acoustic Shock guidelines June 2004 [ pdf] and a later revision [pdf].
• For information on toilet breaks, go to this page on the UK's TUC web magazine  Hazards website.
• The UK Communications Workers Union webpage on noise, including items on Acoustic Shock. 
• Call centre work – characteristics, physical and psychosocial exposures, and health related outcomes; Kerstin Norman; (Sweden 2005).[abstract or full document].  This is a PhD thesis that found a higher proportion of call centre workers reported musculoskeletal symptoms compared to other professional computer users.  The paper also looks at what call centres are and examined the deficiencies of call centre workplaces. 
• Musculo-skeletal injuries and the telecommunications industry - A new guide targeting hazards in the telecommunications sector has been produced in a joint project by European unions and employers.   The guide and accompanying research, based on a survey of 500,000 of the 1.3 million people employed by network operators within the EU, is available online. 

Unions with coverage of call centres:

Contact your union for more information. Unions which have coverage of call centres include:

• the Australian Services Union (ASU)   (Victorian Privated sector branch)
• the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) 
• the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) - Communications Division and their Telecommunications and Services branch,  
• the Finance Sector Union  (FSU), and
• the National Union of Workers (NUW),  and
• the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) have coverage of call centres in the entertainment area (eg Ticketmaster7 and Ticketek)