How to Protect Bankers and Finance Workers from Occupational Safety Problems.

Having read a report about a staff of FCMB, Olisa Nwakoby, who committed suicide, as stated in page 5 of the Punch Newspaper, dated, Monday, August 1, 2016, I feel this should be a wakeup call to both the banking and finance industry that effective health and safety management system protects lives and goes beyond having a safety policy on the walls of a building.

Although investigation is ongoing, nonetheless, I would like to make reference to a statement by the Acting Group Head, Communications and Brand Management of the FCMB Lola Egboh as reported in Punch, “The suicide had nothing to do with the bank, and that the bank would have come to his aid if it was aware that he had emotional challenges”.

While we cannot at this stage hold the bank accountable until a thorough incident investigation has been completed, nonetheless, we must not shy away from reminding the institution of their health and safety responsibilities of identifying workplace hazards such as work-related stress, bullying, aggression and violence that generates psychological symptoms like guilt, agoraphobia, loss of confidence and thought of self-harm etc. Thus, workplace incidents can have a long lasting effect on an employee that extends beyond the employees’ working hours.

For any organisation to ensure so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees and effectively manage the health and safety risks associated with their operations, they must integrate a robust health and safety management system within their business, promote the implementation of risk control strategies, demonstrate top management commitment together with adequate planning and implementation of effective in-house safety and health programmes that support employees’ wellbeing.

Like other business sectors, the banking and financial industry have statutory responsibility to provide a safe place of work.  Banks must therefore protect their workforce against occupational injuries and ill health and should develop good practices that may serve as benchmark for other financial institutions.

It is no doubt that both the banking and finance industry seek to build up capital gains and eliminate losses as much as possible. Since employees are valuable assets, injury at work and ill-health of an employee may lead to loss of working days, or business opportunity. Even worse, it may affect corporate image.

In this regard, I have highlighted some specific health and safety risks that must be adequately managed in the banking and finance sector in order to prevent business losses, reputation damage, employees’ turnover, high illness rate, suicide, stress, violence and aggression, bullying, fire, poor housekeeping etc. Although, most of the employees in these sectors work in a relatively stable environment, there is no doubt that they are also exposed to some significant risk of bodily injury and ill-health. The common occupational safety and health problems that they may encounter in their daily work and corresponding precautionary measures are explained in subsequent paragraphs.

Workers in both banking and finance sector are exposed to varying occupational health and safety issues such as  workplace violence(from aggressive customers), bullying, psychological stress from struggling to meet marketing targets, unresolved bad loans, attending to crowd of customers, physical exertion from prolonged work hours and of course ergonomic issues etc.

For instance, bullying if not prevented can pose serious health and safety concern. Bullying can be described as unfair, offensive, intimidating or insulting behavior intended to undermine ,humiliate or injure someone and examples of bullying behavior include constantly criticising competent staff, removing responsibilities from them, or giving them trivial task, shouting at staff, persistently picking on people in front of others or in private, blocking promotions, regularly making a person the butt of jokes, setting up a person to fail by overloading them with work or setting impossible targets etc. In addressing bullying at work, management must watch out for symptoms of bullying at work which may include anxiety, high blood pressure, loss of confidence etc.  Similarly, management should have a clearly defined policy on ’Anti-Bullying Behaviour’ and ensure this is enforced across all line of management. Workers should have a means of reporting bullying behavior if they feel they are at risk of being bullied or are being bullied.

Secondly, aggression and violence are one of the hazards associated with working in the banking or financial sector. Work-related violence occurs when someone is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work. Violence which includes verbal abuse, threats or physical attacks can come from fellow workers, managers or customers of the bank. For example, bankers who close at unsocial hours are vulnerable to attack and violence by miscreants while tellers who handle money may be a target to criminals and customer care workers may be subjected to aggression by an unsatisfied customer. It is therefore vital that the bank management provide adequate training and information to help employees identify the early signs of aggression so as to enable them avoid it or deal with it.  In addition, introducing changes to the way the team works such as making sure marketers keep in touch when they are out of office for marketing or on a visit to a customer. A system for reporting, investigating and monitoring any instances of violence must be set up and clearly communicated to staff members and everyone should be informed about the psychological symptoms of aggression and violence  like irritability, anxiety, stress, loss of confidence, and thought of self-harm etc. Staff must be trained to watch out for such symptoms and report quickly where such behavior has been frequently noticed.

Again, stress is a common hazard that must also be controlled and effectively managed. Stress is an individual’s reaction to excessive pressure and other demands placed on them.  You would agree with me that while pressure can keep a staff motivated, too much pressure causes stress. Some of the work-related stress factors to bankers are excessive work demand, fear of failure, bad loans, bullying, poor job design, financial worries etc.  Stress can have psychological, emotional and behavioral effects on workers leading to depression, frustration, aggression, high blood pressure, loss of confidence etc. This is why management must recognize this hazard and establish a policy for managing same. Workers should be encouraged to identity potential problem areas and sources of stress in connection with their job and report them. Also, management must have access to a competent health and safety advisor to help address the six key areas of demands, control, support, relationship, role and change associated with work design. In addressing the wellbeing of the workers, regular health talks should be held. This would help in improving workers' confidence in management and freedom to express occupational health concerns. Blood pressure checker that can be placed in a free place where employees can easily use. This will provide quick and easy information as opposed to relying on occasional hospital visits.

Once more, mechanical hazards resulting from the use of the vault, shredder, file compacta etc. must not be disregarded. The vault is where customers’ valuables are kept and it offers tight security but at the same time poses a possible lock-in hazard to the bank employees. Setting up a strict entry / exit accounting system or making use of biometric check technology such as infra-red, heat detection systems are some feasible and effective means to prevent the lock-in hazard. Also, shredders consist of revolving cutters located behind the machine casing. Without proper guarding, the operator’s finger may slip through the feed opening and get hurt by the revolving cutter. Likewise, loose clothing or long hair of an employee operating the machine can easily be dragged into the slot and entangled by the revolving cutter. The dangerous part should be effectively guarded with a transparent plastic sheet to help reduce the feed opening of the shredder to its minimum size. In addition, file compacta poses trapping hazards to employees standing in between the moving cabinets of the compacta. Therefore, implementation of a good engineering control as well as administrative control such as installation of suitable locking system for moving cabinets or the use of drop bars and posting of warning tags at each cabinet so as to inform the workers outside the aisle of the possible presence of others.

One of the common hazards bankers are exposed to is fire. The common causes of fire in the banking and finance sector are smoking, over-heating of electrical appliances and bad wiring. Combustible materials such as carpets and curtains commonly used in a bank can be easily ignited by burning cigarette ends or overheated electrical appliances and wiring. Thus, it is necessary to ensure proper connection and use of electrical appliances of sufficient capacity and correct rating to prevent electrical fires. Also, a sound policy of “No-Smoking Workplace” must be implemented to prevent fire and health hazards. Overloading of electrical appliances must be discouraged. Hence, connection of many plugs to one socket outlet must be prohibited to prevent overloading which is a potential cause of electrical fire.

Furthermore, adequate training and fire drills must be arranged by management for staff members so that they become familiar with the evacuation procedures in case of a fire and well aware of the location of all the exits and the emergency procedures. The fire evacuation plans should be displayed at prominent locations on each floor within the banking hall together with illuminated exit signs to ensure safe evacuation in emergency situations. Likewise, sufficient fire-fighting equipment such as fire extinguishers, hose reels, etc. should be provided on each floor without obstruction.

Another common hazard in both sector is noise. Some activities within the bank occasionally generates noise levels that may seriously impair the employees' hearing or affect concentration and efficiency. This may arise from coin counting machines, banknote counting machines, pin-writers and old model fax machines. Nonetheless, this hazard can be controlled by engineering control, for instance, by ensuring the automatic banknote counting machine are held inside a separate room to contain the noise emitted by the pneumatic bank-note delivery system. In addition, the walls of the room housing note counting machines should be fitted with noise absorbing material to reduce noise level and an acoustic booth can be used to isolate noisy equipment such as the above pin-writers and an old fax machine. Buffer material should also be mounted in the chute of a coin counting machine to reduce the contact noise arising from coin counting process while workers operating the machine must be mandated to wear hearing protectors.

Poor housekeeping is another hazard that must be managed since it could result into slips and trips. Poor housekeeping can arise from wandering cable, folded or loose carpet, littered papers and folders, poorly arranged materials around working areas etc. However, a policy on good housekeeping and its implementation would help in eliminating tripping hazards.

Similarly, poor ergonomically designed work station pose a risk to workers. Teller workstations should be ergonomically designed to enable them work comfortably and efficiently. There should be arrangement for rest breaks and job rotation and counters should not be designed too deep so as to prevent fatigue, strain to arm and shoulder, improper working postures which may arise from stretching to receive items from customers. Risks from other equipment like computer workstation used at the counter must be adequately controlled. A large number of staff in the banking and finance industry use computers for long periods every day. Poorly designed computer workstations, repetitive keying motion and static working postures can cause eye strain, muscle aches and general fatigue. As well, staff engaged in phone banking, FX dealing, programming and data input may be exposed to potential health problems caused by prolonged computer operation. Hence, the need for management to assess the risks to those who normally work with computers for long periods and adopt control measures accordingly. For example, monitor should be placed directly in front of the user and adequate desk surface should be provided. Likewise, sunlight reflection on the screen should be avoided by repositioning the monitor or by using blinds. As regards ergonomics, it is important that banks include ergonomics training and assessment programme in their health and safety management. Such program should allow for provision of right equipment for each employee following a detailed ergo assessment of the individual and his workstation and that includes lighting issues. It should also include a system for reporting and following up on issues of discomfort arising from workstation design. Employees should be trained periodically on ergonomics awareness and each department assigned an ergo contact who may as well be a volunteer staff from within the department.

Additionally, ultraviolet lamps also pose a risk to workers. Ultraviolet lamps are often used to check signatures or identify counterfeit notes. Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light should be avoided. As good practice, ultraviolet lamps should be suitably shielded and placed far from the hand position. In checking signatures or notes, tellers should keep their hands at least 50 - 75 millimetres away from the center of the lamp.

Also, manual handling operations such as transporting heavy equipment or coins can result into strain and sprain to the arms, shoulder or back. It is therefore important to first assess the operational risks and then try to reduce them. Consideration should be given to avoidance of manual handling operations, and where impossible, the risk should be reduced.  Mechanical aids or team lifting should be used to minimize risk and staff should be properly trained on Manual Handling.

Lastly, for management to successfully implement the recommendations stated in this article, they must have access to competent advice, either by recruiting a Health and Safety Advisor or engaging a Health and Safety Consultant that would offer competent advice to management on specific areas of concerns and in the implementation of the organization’s corporate health and safety agenda and management system. Likewise, Induction programmes for both new and existing staff should cover health and safety management and not just soft skills development, marketing, accounting and loan recovery etc.

 

Written by:

Engr. Kayode V.  Fowode CMIOSH,M.CSSE, MNSE
Chartered Health and Safety Practitioner
Managing Consultant / CEO
Kevron Consulting Limited
8, Olanrewaju Street, Off Kudirat Abiola Way, Oregun, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria
Tel: +234 13424578, +2347084152143, +2348182170991
Email: k.fowode@kevronconsultingltd.com