The Identification and Control of Musculoskeletal Risks To Supermarket Checkout Workers.

The study briefly charts the development of the supermarket in the UK and identifies that there are currently in the region of 220,000 sales assistants who routinely work on checkouts in the UK’s supermarkets. It suggests that concern had been voiced for the welfare of these workers since the mid 1980s when a link between checkout work and musculoskeletal disorders, principally affecting the lower back, upper arm-neck-shoulder region and the hand-wrist area was first suggested. It is submitted that today despite significant amounts of research, workers are still experiencing discomfort whilst working on checkouts, due to design faults of checkstands and work organisation flaws. The pace of change seems slow and it appears that the subject is not being actively targeted by Environmental Health Officers to promote improvements.

Three questions are posed - namely:

What are the health risks which researchers have identified as being associated with checkout design and operation?

How familiar are Environmental Health Officers with these risks, and what action are they taking to encourage them to be addressed?

Is there a need for guidance or additional regulation to ensure effective and uniform protection of checkout worker health and safety?

A number of designs of checkout presently in use are described and illustrated, and researchers ergonomic evaluations concerning the advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of the worker are reported. Early research is reviewed, concentrating on physical factors which cause discomfort such as seating, environmental factors and work organisation. Then specific medical conditions which have been attributed to checkout work, such as hand/wrist pain, neck and shoulder disorders, low back pain, leg, ankle and foot pain also are explored in more detail. An indication is given as to how such conditions may act together to result in Cumulative Trauma Disorders.

A suggestion is made that whilst researchers had readily accepted the musculoskeletal risks associated with checkouts and their use, Employers, Employees and Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) may have differing perceptions of such risk. It is submitted that perception of risk has an influence upon action.

In the absence of published information detailing how aware EHOs are of the risks to checkout workers, a study is undertaken and its results reported. From the study it is clear that EHOs receive few notifications of checkout injuries, but many had received worker complaints. Officers believed they did not have access to adequate information on checkout safety issues, and felt that some workers were also given insufficient information by their employers. Officers and employers agreed on the relative importance of checkout safety. Checkouts were inspected in detail, comparatively rarely, and virtually no formal enforcement action was taken. Most thought legislative controls were adequate but guidance was required.

The study looks into the changes which could be made to improve checkouts and discusses if checkouts are about to become superfluous. It finds that the checkout is here to stay and that there is a need for guidance to Employers, Employees, and EHOs. Recommendations are made as to the content of such guidance to ensure that all recognise the risks and that all see the action they should take to ensure that such risks are controlled.