Negotiating the Future of Work: Automation and New Technology
Depending on the workplace and the type of new technology concerned, there are likely to be a number of health and safety issues to include in any agreement. These include:
- Ergonomics – is new machinery safe, body movements etc.?
- Mental health
- Work intensification
- Social isolation
Unite recommends that a stand-alone New Technology Risk Assessment be carried out prior to any implementation of new software or equipment that considers the mental health of workers, anyone with physical disabilities and any potential side effects or toxicity from any materials used in the technology.
Prospect is also lobbying as a union for a ‘Right to Disconnect’ law in the upcoming Employment Bill as well as providing a model agreement on the issue drafted by the Irish Financial Services Union. The preamble to this reads:
“New technologies are providing a great opportunity for flexible working arrangements for staff. Many staff now avail of different hours and location arrangements meaning work is often conducted at different times of the day or week. However, we are conscious that this can create risks, expectations, or pressures to work longer hours that often encroach on home life. Disconnecting from work is vital to a healthy and sustainable work life balance. Staff’s mental health, wellbeing and personal down time is important to us.
“In this context we support our staff’s right to disconnect. As an employer, we do not expect staff, normally, to work more than their contractual working hours. If you find you are, you should talk to your line manager or your union representative. If you do receive a work email, or any other form of communication outside of working hours, there is no expectation that you read it or respond until you are working.
“We encourage eligible staff who work overtime to claim and ensure they are paid for this work. We also have an on-call and standby allowance, again for those eligible. Anyone required on standby should be in receipt of this allowance. Other than contact related to on-call, or where expressly agreed with the staff member, your employer undertakes not to contact you outside of your agreed working hours for work related matters. “This right and policy apply to all staff under our group including agency and contract workers.”
The model agreement proposes specified commitments on “hours of work and overtime”, “disconnect out of hours”, “regular breaks and lunchtime”, “managing meetings and times”, “oncall, standby, weekend attendance and other allowances”, “culture of work”, and “complaint procedure”.
Example: Right to disconnect, risk assessments and stress management at Deutsche-Bahn
The EVG’s Work 4.0 agreement has the ‘promotion of worker health’ at its heart. It has a whole section on ‘stress, dissociation and health protection’. In particular, it acknowledges that the use of mobile technology e.g. smartphones and iPads etc. requires a multitasking ability that can potentially cause psychological stress to workers.
The agreement specifies that the constant ‘availability’ that mobile technology enables should be regulated, i.e. that workers be given the right to disconnect and that full ‘psychological’ risk assessments be undertaken. It also ensures the employer provides funding for activities such as ‘stress management seminars’.
Example: Guidelines for use of automated parcel sorting machines at Royal Mail
The CWU-negotiated terms of reference for the introduction of automated machinery (PSMs) at Royal Mail ensures that ergonomic studies have been undertaken during their trial period and that specific staffing rules are adhered to in order to protect the wellbeing of workers. They say:
“These studies have included involvement from a Health & Safety aspect and feedback from individuals working on the machines to ensure that relevant issues, i.e. operator fatigue, repetitive strain etc. have been factored into the operational arrangements for staffing the PSMs.”
“In line with the outputs of above activity it is confirmed that no individual should work at a specific station for more than two hours and all operators must therefore be rotated every 2 hours. In order to accommodate this facility discussion and agreement will take place locally with the CWU to ensure that it is included in the resourcing plan for the site. To enable full compliance with the rotation system and to provide the opportunity and ability to have as many members of staff as possible trained to use the PSM, the manual sorting area should also be utilised as part of the rotational process in the agreed resourcing plan.”
Example: Using virtual reality to model ergonomics in Siemens
The Commission for Workers and Technology found that workers in Siemen’s Congleton site use a Virtual Reality Cave to simulate the changes in the working environment as new technology is introduced to the factory. One part of the ‘Cave’ tool designs the plant to maximise productivity and another part is an ergonomic simulation tool. This second tool is for maintaining the health and safety of the operators using data from the plant design to simulate what the strains and stresses on the bodies of the operators will be.