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ERGONOMICS FACTORS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP ON PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE
WAN ASYRAF BIN WAN MOHD ABDUL RAHIM
MASTER OF SCIENCES
(OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT) UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA
DECEMBER 2018
ii
ERGONOMICS FACTORS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP ON PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE
By
WAN ASYRAF BIN WAN MOHD ABDUL RAHIM
Thesis submitted to
Universiti Utara Malaysia,
in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Master of Sciences (Management)
iii
PERMISSION TO USE
In presenting this dissertation/project paper in partial fulfillment of the requirement for a Post Graduate degree from the Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM), I agree that the Library of this university may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying this dissertation/project paper in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purpose may be granted by my supervisor(s) or in their absence, by the Universiti Utara Malaysia where I did my dissertation/project paper parts of it for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood due to recognition shall be given to me and to the UUM in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my dissertation/project paper.
Request for permission to copy or to make other use of materials in this dissertation/project paper in whole or in part should be addressed to:
Universiti Utara Malaysia 06010 UUM Sintok
Kedah Darul Aman
iv ABSTRACT
Physiological stress occurrence in manufacturing organization is quite increasing nowadays. It is also involve workers who work in an office area or known as officer workers. Through literature being made, it is revealed that poor ergonomics workstation environment is one of the major contributors to the physiological stress. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between ergonomics factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) towards work stress outcomes (physiological stress). This research specifically, focusing on the most significant ergonomic factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) towards physiological stress. A total of 106 samples of office workers were derived from a manufacturing industry in Gebeng, Pahang by using convenience sampling technique. Questionnaires were used for data collection process. The major findings show that ergonomically designated workstation is a significant strategy in minimizing the physiological stress outcomes in organizations or work area. Through the multiple regression analysis, each ergonomics factor and component collectively have significant relationship with the physiological stress outcomes. The multiple regression analysis shows (work process design, humidity, acoustics, working hours and work load) factors have significant relationship with physiological stress outcomes. To be concluded from the findings, it is important to organization which is in need of healthy and competent office workers in line with the aspiration of dynamic human capital development.
Keywords: Physiological stress, ergonomic work station, manufacturing, workplace
v ABSTRAK
Kejadian tekanan fisiologi dalam organisasi pembuatan semakin meningkat pada masa kini. Ia juga melibatkan pekerja yang bekerja di kawasan pejabat atau dikenali sebagai pekerja pegawai. Melalui kesusasteraan yang dibuat, dinyatakan bahawa persekitaran stesen kerja ergonomik yang buruk adalah salah satu penyumbang utama kepada tekanan fisiologi. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengkaji hubungan antara faktor ergonomik (reka bentuk proses kerja, kelembapan, akustik, pencahayaan, jam kerja dan beban kerja) ke arah hasil kerja stres (tekanan fisiologi). Penyelidikan ini secara khusus memberi tumpuan kepada faktor ergonomik yang paling penting (reka bentuk proses kerja, kelembapan, akustik, pencahayaan, jam kerja dan beban kerja) terhadap tekanan fisiologi.
Sejumlah 106 sampel pekerja pejabat diperoleh daripada industri perkilangan di Gebeng, Pahang dengan menggunakan teknik sampling kemudahan. Soal selidik digunakan untuk proses pengumpulan data. Penemuan utama menunjukkan bahawa stesen kerja ergonomik yang ditetapkan adalah strategi penting dalam meminimumkan hasil tekanan fisiologi dalam organisasi atau kawasan kerja.
Melalui analisis regresi berganda, setiap faktor ergonomi dan komponen secara kolektif mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan hasil tekanan fisiologi.
Analisis regresi berganda menunjukkan (reka bentuk proses kerja, kelembapan, akustik, jam kerja dan beban kerja) faktor mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan hasil tekanan fisiologi. Untuk disimpulkan dari penemuan, penting bagi organisasi yang memerlukan pekerja pejabat yang sihat dan kompeten selaras dengan aspirasi pembangunan modal insan dinamik.
Kata kunci: Tekanan fisiologi, stesen kerja ergonomik, pembuatan, tempat kerja
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful”
Bismillahirrahmannirrahim,
I am grateful and would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Zuraida Binti Hassan for her germinal ideas, invaluable guidance, continuous encouragement and constant support in making this research possible. She has always impressed me with her outstanding professional conduct, her strong conviction for science, and her belief that Master program is only a start of a life-long learning experience. I appreciate her consistent support from the first day I applied to graduate programme to these concluding moments. I am truly grateful for her progressive vision, tolerance of my naive mistakes, and her commitment to my future carrier.
My sincere thanks go to all my classmate and members of Master of Science (Occupational Safety and Health) Management who helped me in many ways and made my stay at UUM pleasant and unforgettable.
I acknowledge my sincere indebtedness and gratitude to my parents for their love, dream and sacrifice throughout my life. I cannot find the appropriate words that could properly describe my appreciation for the devotion, support and faith in my ability to attain my goals.
Last but not least, I am very grateful to have a supportive wife Naz Edayu Binti Mat Nawi for her tremendous support and thoughtful ideas on my research. My lovely daughter Wan Azzahra who is the one that give me strength to finish this research paper.
Thank you God for the blessing and all.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
CONTENT PAGE
DECLARATION ii
PERMISSION TO USE iii
ABSTRACT iv
ABSTRAK v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vi
TABLE OF CONTENT vii
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background of the Study 1
1.1 Problem Statement 3
1.2 Research Questions 8
1.3 Research Objectives 8
1.4 Significance of the Study 9
1.5 Scope of the Study 9
1.6 Organization of the study 10
1.7 Conclusion 11
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 12
2.2 Physiological Stress 12
2.3 Causes of Physiological Stress at workplace 16
2.4 Ergonomic Workstation factors 19
2.4.1 Work Environment 19
2.4.2 Ergonomics (Work Process Design) 22
2.4.3 Humidity 24
2.4.4 Acoustics 26
2.4.5 Lighting 29
2.4.6 Working Hours 31
2.4.7 Workload 33
viii CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 37
3.2 Research Framework 37
3.3 Hypothesis 38
3.4 Research Design 38
3.5 Operational Definition 40
3.6 Measurement 41
3.6.1 Measurement Scale 44
3.7 Data Collection 46
3.8 Sampling Technique 46
3.8.1 Population and Sample 3.8.2 Sample Size
47 47
3.9 Data Collection Procedure 48
3.10 Techniques of Data Analysis 48
3.10.1 Descriptive Analysis 49
3.10.2 Reliability Analysis 49
3.11 Conclusion 50
CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction 51
4.2 Reliability Result for Pilot Test 51
4.3 Response Rate 52
4.4 Reliability Result for Actual Research 52
4.5 Demographic Data 53
4.6 Reliability, Descriptive Analysis and item loading, correlation
analysis and regression analysis for all variables 55
4.6.1 Reliability 55
4.6.2 Descriptive Analysis 55
4.6.3 Correlation analysis on Physiological Stress and Ergonomic
Factors 61
4.6.4 Multiple Regression Analysis 63
4.7 Conclusion 65
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION
5.1 Introduction 66
5.2 Most Significant Factor In Ergonomic Workstation Variables
Influence Stress Level For Office Workers 66
5.3 Relationship between ergonomics workstation factors and work
stress outcomes (physiological stress). 69
5.4 Relationship between Humidity and Physiological Stress. 70 5.5 Relationship between Acoustics and Physiological Stress. 71
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5.6 Relationship between Lighting and Physiological Stress 72 5.7 Relationship between working hours and Physiological Stress 73 5.8 Relationship between Work Load and Physiological Stress. 75
5.9 Limitation 76
5.10 Recommendation 77
5.11 Conclusion 78
References 79
Appendices 94
x
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 Operational Definition 40
3.2 Measurement of Variables or Instrumentation 42
3.3 Respondent‟s Level 45
3.4 Correlation Variable Strength Value 45
3.5 Number of office worker for each plant. 47
4.1 Reliability (Pilot Test) for all variables 51
4.2 Reliability all (n = 106) 52
4.3 Participant‟s number (n) and percentage (%) based on
demographic data 54
4.4 Means Value for all variables 58
4.5 Correlation analysis on Physiological Stress and Ergonomic
Factors 62
4.6 Result of R Square 64
4.7 ANOVA 62
4.8 Result of Coefficients 65
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Stress, depression or anxiety by cause, averaged 2009/10-2011/12 5 1.2
Prevalence rate of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain, by broad occupational category, per 100,000 people employed in the last twelve months, averaged over the period 2014/15-2016/17
7 2.1 Days lost due to self-reported work-related stress, depression or
anxiety in Great Britain, for people working in the last 12 months 15 2.2 Percentage for work related stress in Malaysia 16 2.3 Stressful Characteristics of Work (Psychosocial Hazards)” 20
2.4 Environmental Comfort Model 21
2.5 Possible Effect of Temperature Level Affect Workers at
Workplace 25
2.6 Analysis of the effects of noise on mental health 28 2.7
Estimated prevalence rates of self-reported stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain, by how caused or made worse by work, averaged 2009/10 - 2011/12
35 3.1 Research Framework “Ergonomic Factor And Their Relationship
To Physiological Stress In The Workplace 38
3.2 Flow diagram of the study design 39
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.0 Background of the Study
Stress is one of the fundamentals problems facing by all human being.
Stress can be neither good nor bad in a workplace. Nobody can resist stress in their life. Therefore, all human being from young or old, rich or poor, professional or unemployed person they are all potential victims to have stressed. Stress has become a part of human being life. The frustration, disappointment and pressures of daily life constitute the genesis of stress.
Stress can be managed if the stress is under once control, meaning that they can perform well under accurate amount of stress. However, when the stress becomes large and cannot be control by the individual it can seriously affect their health. This statement is supported by Noriah et al, (2014) in their study where they stated that work plays important role in human‟s life. Sometimes it can influence on their well being which is a good experience for many individuals, and sometimes can also be a tremendous sources of stress. Good kind of stress is called eustress and bad stress is called distress. Stress also have high related to health problem such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders.
Stress also can affect once feel, behave and also think. Some people might feel concerned about not being able to deal with the stress or task. Others might think that the task or problem facing is hard to concentrate or able to think straight. Some might feel constantly tired therefore they tend to have not enough
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rest and sleep or unable to relax. This will make them feel more tired. Others might become withdrawn and less talkative. Although stress is not an illness, if someone under stress for a long period of time, it may make them ill. This may lead the person who suffers from stress to get mental health problem such as burnout or depression, physical illness such as musculoskeletal or cardiovascular problems or illness resulting from low immune system. Low immune system can cause person to catch infection easily.
There are some causes/factors that have been identified leading to work stress such as job related, career development, working environment and other factors. For this study, researcher seeks to discover the relationship between ergonomics factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and work load) to physiological stress in the workplace. As per study by Sutton & Rafaeli (1987), they mentioned that work station environment included dim light, extreme heat and congested works area having related with the stress outcomes at a workplace. These types of factors also present for workers who work in an office that can lead to physiological stress.
For this study, workers who work in office line were selected to be the respondent. There are several study had been conducted about stress at work place, but most of the study focusing on manufacturing workers (production line) and customer relations industry (Zafir et al. 2007). Several published studies focus on workers who work as an office worker. For the past 10 years studies focusing on office workers have been limited and somewhat fragmented
3
(Manshor et al. 2003, Jamal 2007, Kumaresan et al. 2004). Therefore this study endeavors to address the literature gap.
Through this study, the findings will help employers to take this matter seriously and assist office workers to overcome or minimize their stress level during working by coming out with new ideas or design to address the causes highlighted by the findings. Employees also will get benefits through this study and can reduce their level of stress once the findings are out.
1.1 Problem Statement
A happy working environment and job is likely to be a dream of all workers where the pressures at work are fitting with their abilities and resources.
They also can control the amount of stress with the burden of their work. Happy working environment also is when the workers get enough support by other coworkers, employer, neighbors and also their loves one. World Health Organization (WHO) (1986) stated that, workers health is defined when the workers physical, mental and social well-being is increasing. It is not based on the absence of disease or infirmity. This also included with health-promoting in workplace area.
Vice versa, as per reported by The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, (2014) in their website stated that the second highest reported work-related problem in industry is stress, where the statistics showed 22 percent of employees in European Union facing the problem. Andrea et. al, (2013) stated that stress is today global issue.
4
Work related stress can be normal at workplace area due to the demand of required work. Excessive and uncontrolled stress can lead to health issues such as stress can affect workers on their mental and physical well being. According to Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye in his press conference with New Straits Times, (2016) he mentioned that, throughout the years, work related stress becoming on the challenging issue in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) industry. It is believe to be a growing alarm all around the globe as stress have a significant towards workers health, organization development of efficiency and also it can give impact towards nation‟s financial system. Minter, (1999) stated that it is proven that the stress level in workplace nowadays is much higher than the previous generation.
Many researchers have conducted their study on the matter. The study is to find what causes work stress among workers. As indicated by Terry, (1978) stated that through empirical research that has been done said through a reviewed there are six factors that can lead to job stress at workplace area such as personal problems, time, work process, environmental, human consequences and organizational consequences. These factors are said to be a contributor towards stress because workers need to deal with their personal life and also dealing with their job stress.
In this study, researcher wants to relate between working environment (work process design, humidity, acoustic, lighting, working hours and workload) with physiological stress among office workers. Ergonomic factors determined are work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and work
5
load (Zafir, 2009). Zafir (2009) also stated that, poor ergonomic workstation is identified to be as one of the major contributors to the work related stress problem at workplace area. It is also supported by Sutton and Rafaeli (1987), in their research. They stated that workstation environment such as excessive heat, soft light and congested work area can lead to stress within workplace area.
A statistic from National Statistics Great Britain (2017), showed that the most factor contributed to work stress is workload which is (44%) in Great Britain including too much responsibility and having a tight deadline that required them to submit their work. Figure 1.1 shows the chart for stress, depression or anxiety by caused average on the year of 2009/10-2011/12 in Great Britain.
Figure 1.1
Stress, depression or anxiety by cause, averaged 2009/10-2011/12 Source: National Statistics Great Britain, 2017
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In some research discuss that, not many aware on the importance of addressing stress as an issue, where stress can give impact on serious health problems of employees and also towards economic loses (Andrea, et. al, 2013).
This statement also supported by Mikloš, (2004) stated that one of the major causes of stress is that there is little interest to solve problems regarding stress as it is treat as common issue happen at workplace area. This problem is not a concern either toward employer neither to the employee. They are both ignoring the consequences of the stress. Employees still disregard on what is stress, what are the symptoms, what consequences of the stress they will get, what consequence its can impact their company or what are the stressors in their work process (Csikosova & Szombathyova, 2000). For this research, researcher will highlight why stress should be eliminate or reduce and tabulated the result to employee and also employer. This research will help to explain the issue from top to bottom line in office area.
To be add, according to Shikar and Sawared, (2003) in their study stated that, workers will tend to have emotional depression, physical exhaustion, decrease in productivity and quality if the implementation of ergonomic principle is fail. Minter (1999), Cheng et al., (2001), Schermerhorn et al., (2005) in their study stated that, there are some diseases that can affect workers due to stress such as having cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), depression, burnout and having stomach problem (gastrointestinal).
People always think working in office less stress than working in production area as their nature of work is working in air conditioning area and
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more relaxing. According to National Statistics Great Britain (2017), administrative and secretarial is the second leading work-related stress for the past twelve months in 2017 in Great Britain. Professional work having the highest leading work-related stress. Some workers who work as professional also do office work and spend most time at office doing the clerical work. Therefore, professional workers also consider doing office work. Figure 1.2 shows the rate of work-related stress, anxiety or depression in Great Britain, by wide occupational category, per 100,000 people in employment in the last twelve months, averaged over the period of 2014/2015 to 2016/2017.
Figure 1.2
“Prevalence rate of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain, by broad occupational category, per 100,000 people employed in the last twelve months, averaged over the period 2014/15-2016/17”
Source: National Statistics Great Britain, 2017
Therefore, researcher seeks to investigate the relationship between ergonomics workstation (work process design, humidity, lighting, workload, working hours and acoustics) and the work stress outcomes (physiological stress)
8
by using a questionnaire among office workers. The outcomes of the study will be tabulated to management so that top management can put in place workplace initiatives to promote mental health among office workers. Workers also can have beneficial through this study; workers will have some ideas or knowledge if they are under stress or out of stress.
1.2 Research Questions
Based on the problem statements that have been discuss above, researcher focal point is based on the following questions below:
1) What is the most major factor in the ergonomic workspace (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) variables influence the stress level among office workers?
2) Do ergonomic factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) influence stress?
1.3 Research Objectives
For this study, there are two objectives that required to be achieved by researcher which are:
1) To examine the major factor in ergonomic factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) that influence the stress level among office workers.
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2) To investigate the relationship between ergonomics factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) towards work stress outcomes (physiological stress).
1.4 Significant of the Study
The findings of this study will evaluate what is the most significant ergonomic workstation factor towards physiological stress among office workers in manufacturing company and is there any relationship between ergonomic factors towards work stress outcomes (physiological stress). Furthermore, this study could be importance to the following:
For future researcher, this study can be continued by people who might interest to do the same research. This study provides valuable guidance for researchers and practitioners for identifying the mechanisms by which they can improve to eliminate or reduce work stress at office area.
Other than that, this study will help management and workers to have better understanding on ergonomic issues, what is working environment indicator and how to overcome physiological stress at workplace. This study also will help management to improve workers alertness by reducing work stress and also beneficial workers to know either they are in control of their stress or either they are over limit for their stress.
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study was conducted at manufacturing industry in Gebeng, Pahang.
Gebeng was chosen as place to study because Gebeng is one of the industrial
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areas in Pahang. Despite that, Gebeng also is the nearest place researcher can reach to collect data. Researcher focuses on workers who work in an office environment. Nowadays, there were a lot of studies conducted on the level of stress among workers. For this study, researcher tried to investigate is there any relationship between ergonomic workstation factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) towards stress among office workers.
1.6 Organization of the Study
There are five chapter provided in this study. Chapter 1 explains on the introduction of the study where it covers the study background, problem of the study, research questions, significant of the study and the scope of the study. For Chapter 2, it is covered by literature review and describe the overview of physiological stress, symptoms of physiological stress, impact of physiological stress, office work, nature of office work, health issues among office workers, causes of physiological stress at workplace and ergonomic work station factors (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload).
Chapter 3 discussed about the research framework, hypothesis, research design, operational definition, data collection and data analysis. Chapter 4 discuss on the findings by showing tabulated data through data analysis conducted. Lastly, Chapter 5 represents discussion of the research paper.
11 1.7 Conclusion
Chapter 1 covers on the study background, covers on problem statement, research questions and objectives. It also covers on the significant of study and also the scope for the project paper.
12 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The purpose of this section is to review on physiological stress, work environment (work process design, humidity, acoustics, lighting, working hours and workload) and the relationship between work environments towards physiological stress among office workers.
2.2 Physiological Stress
Physiological stress is also known as biological stress (Ulrich-Lai et al 2017). Physiological stress happen when a person react to a stressor where their body response towards the environmental, physical, challenge or psychological barrier condition or to a threat (Ulrich-Lai et al. 2017). They also mentioned that, during this time, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and autonomic nervous system will response to the stress. Varnada (2017) supported the statement, where she mentioned that whenever a person feels stress, the body will give a reaction towards the dangerous situation either the stress is real or perceived. Varnada (2017) mentioned at this state, some chemical reaction will react in the body that allows the person to react towards the danger to prevent them from injury and at this state also once heartbeat or rate will increase, muscle tightens, breathing get quickens and blood pressure increase. That person send signal to the body to react towards the stress and act towards the stress. This reaction happens when once trying to protect their selves (Varnada, 2017).
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Larson (2004) stated that occupational stress terminology has the same meaning as work stress or job stress. Meanwhile, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said that work stress is harmful physically and emotionally where it is happen when jobs requirement is not meet with one capability, resources or needed. From the workplace perspective, work stress can be defined as workers reaction towards overload pressure or demand of their work (Syed et al, 2014). Jamal, (2005) defined that job stress is a reaction of individual towards working environment physically and emotionally. In a statistics by National Statistics Great Britain (2017) mentioned that work related stress as a pressure on work demand and workers reaction towards the pressure given.
Jamal (1985), stated that work stress is someone capability to handle stress at work place either they can fit with their capabilities and environment or they are not fully ready to carry the particular situation. Stress will be much higher if the demands and individual abilities are not in par with the pressure or work demand (Jamal, 2005). Beehr and Newman (1998) in their study discussed that in an occupational settings, perceived stress means that a situation or condition where workers having reaction with work related factors, changing their psychological and physiological conditions such as workers mind and body are forced to deviate from their normal functioning. This type of stress may be exist when workers perceived conflicting forces and incompatible demands are being made upon the workers in connection with the workers work and the forces reoccurrence over the time (Ugwuja, 2009).
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National Statistics Great Britain (2017) reported that in 2016 and 2017, there are 12.5 millions working days lost because of depression, work related stress and also from the anxiety. Figure 2.1 showed the statistics for lost time working days due to work related stress in Great Britain. As per mentioned by International Labour Organization (ILO) (2016), nowadays work related stress is acknowledge as a worldwide issues affection every one profession and every single one of employees not only in developed country but also in developing countries. It is also mentioned that, In United Kingdom, five millions of the workers complaint that they are having extremely stressed when they are working or by their work (Health and Safety Executive (HSE) United Kingdom, 2014).
According to Ng et al., (2005); Lath, (2010) mentioned that all profession have chances to get stress as it is not limited to any particular profession in the world. All professions have possibilities to get stress. National Statistics Great Britain (2017) in their statistics showed that the public services industries such as education, social care work activities, human health, public administration and defense is more frequent to have stress. Manshor et. al, (2003) stated that, Malaysia is also included as one of the developing country that will have a growing concern on work related stress where it can affect workers, business community and also society.
According to Brounen and Eichholtz (2004) and Veitch et al, (2007), in this current world population it is stated that 50% of the world‟s populations work in an office. It is also stated by Kamarulzaman et al. (2011), most of the workers who work in an office spend most of their time inside a building. When working
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in this physical environment it can give influence on their performance, productivity and also toward their well being.
Figure 2.1 “Days lost due to self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain, for people working in the last 12 months”
Source: National Statistics Great Britain 2017, website:
www.hse.gov.uk/statistics
Survey have been conducted in Malaysia by Malaysia‟s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality (2017) quoted that Malaysian employees work the longest hours among the market surveyed. In the statistics conducted by Malaysia‟s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality (2017), Malaysian workers having more than 15 hours average of working time compared to their contracted hours every week. Figure 2.2 showed 17% of Malaysian workers cannot decide when they will have a break during working hour. Singapore having 43% of one dimension work-related stress but Malaysian workers having 53% of one dimension work-related stress.
16 Figure 2.2
“Percentage for work related stress in Malaysia”
Source: Malaysia‟s Healthiest Workplace by AIA Vitality (2017)
2.3 Causes of physiological stress at workplace
Stressor causes stress, where a person bodies evolutionarily trained response to the danger and their life. Jerold (1996) mentioned that, most of the job required a huge number of environmental sources of work related stress such as the role of the person in an organization, career development pressure, the nature of relationship at work, the climate and structure of the organization, the work itself, and the problems associated with the interface between the organization and the outside world. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980), reported that the increasing of mental health among workers in industry is happen due to psychological stress and also excessive job demands in the workplace.
As stated by Michie (2002), there are various factors that can be associated with stress and health risk at workplace which are stress related to
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work satisfaction, social life and organization environment. Most factors that can contribute to work stress which are overloaded work, difficulty in handling complex task, long working hours, having short break time or poor working environment. Manshor et al. (2003), in his study also tabulated that, workload, relationship at work, and working condition is the main sources of stress. Swee et all (2007) also stated that, stress related to work is a common and how continues stress may affect health is a major concern among office workers.
According to Abdul (2012) employees will experience more distress when the work environment is worst. There are five different factors that are called physical stimuli at workplace environment which are number one is temperature (heat, cold), second is sound (noise/music), third is air (pollution, freshness), fourth is lighting and color (sunlight, fluorescent, windows, views and incandescent), the fifth is space (arrangement of workstation, density).
This statement also supported by Nitisemito (2001), it is stated that cleanliness, water, lighting, security, music (acoustics) and the color of the surroundings may become the factor that influence workplace area. As per mentioned by Nurul et al, (2012), stress can be happen when the work area in a poor work environment as it can create uncomfortable working area. Kornhauser, (1965) added that, stress can be happen also when the work area are lack of privacy, badly designated, overcrowding and not in a good arrangement is one of the contributing factors.
Evans and Cohen, (1987) also stated that some example of stress can be increase is when there are any disturbance or interrupt the workers attention such
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as the work area having problems with ventilation, noise and also lighting.
Physical work environment defined by Stup (2003) is a working environment that can fit human being with their job or work process. This can be also included with the lighting, ventilation and also temperatures are fits to human beings. It can also be known as ergonomic workplace area. Based on Brill et al. (1985) stated that in order to improve workers performance and health when working, there are a few factors of physical work environment that need to be improved at the first place.
The factors mentioned by them are floor configuration of office layout and also the furniture layout. Lighting also should be considered to be improved.
Andrian (1995) in his study stated that worker who complaint and unhappy with their work environment such as water quality, lighting, noise condition or tempertature mentioned that these elements or factors affects their concentration when working. In general, studies conducted by Crouch and Nimran (1989), they had concluded that workers‟ attitude, behaviours, satisfaction and performance influence by the ambient features in office environment such as existence of windows, lighting, temperature, noise and other factors. Work environment factors also gives impacted on workers job. This is the respondent rate conducted by Ettner and Grzywacs (2001) in their research. Therefore, Shikdar and Sawaqed (2003), in their study proof that environment factors in workplace area has a very strong relationship with workers health, facilities and also performance. Through a finding by Khaled and Haneen (2017), working environment such the arrangement of office furniture, lighting, ventilation and noise are the major work environment condition that give negative impact on
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workers job performance and this factors should gain lots of attention by all levels.
2.4 Ergonomic Workstation Factors 2.4.1 Work Environment
As per mentioned by De Croon (2005) in his study, workplace design might result direct or indirectly in psychological reactions and physiological reactions. In long term effect this can lead to decreasing in workers performance.
Kamarulzaman et al. (2011) mentioned that workers productivity and concentration during work can be affected by air quality, temperature, lighting and noise conditions in the office area. Zafir (2006), mentioned that wor environment factors include the lighting, shift work, acoustic, humidity and working hours. Sutton and Rafaeli (1987), discover that poor lighting, congested work area, extreme heat are the factors that can lead to stress at workplace. Zafir (2016) also stated that inappropriate physical structured can be considered as stress at workplace such as humidity system, acoustics systems, work area design and lighting. To minimize work stress area at workplace area, the most strategic precaution that can be taken by management is by providing ergonomically designated workstation area (Tarcan et al. 2004 , Jamieson and Graves, 1998).
Cox et al. (2000) recognized the types of stressful work characteristic which are psychosocial hazard. These characteristics can be divided into two groups which are content of work and context of work. Figure 2.3 shows stressful characteristics of work which is psychosocial hazards. Workers performance can
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be increased when there are enhancements or adjustment of workplace design.
The increase of performance is increase by five to ten percent (Brill, 1992).
Amir (2010) stated that, to enhance physical workplace environment there are two main elements that need to be consider which are office layout and office comfort. He also added, in order to achieve company goals, physical workplace need to be arrange or improved.
Figure 2.3 “Stressful Characteristics of Work (Psychosocial Hazards)”
Source: Cox et al, 2000
Visher (2007) in his study mentioned that there are three categories that can achieve environmental comfort which are physical, functional and psychological. Number one is physical comfort in the workplace which are safety, accessibility and also hygiene. Number one is considered as basic need by the workers in order for them to be comfort especially when they are working in an office area. Categories number two is functional comfort. Functional comfort can
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be explained as ergonomic support for workers to perform their work. So, they required a proper lighting of illumination for screen based work, a private room for discussion and meeting, suitable or ergonomic furniture size, and also partition for individual work station. Number three categories is psychological comfort.
This comfort is the feelings of belongingness towards their working area, ownership and also the control over workspace.
Figure 2.4 shows the illustration of a model: environmental comfort model by Visher (2007). Through the figures shows, the physical comfort category is on the line of habitability threshold where the workspace is acceptable. Meanwhile, psychological comfort is happen when workers have the ability to make decision making and empowerment feel. Functional categories are in between physical comfort and psychological comfort where this categories need to be measured in order to determine which environmental elements support or fail to support the work.
Figure 2.4 “Environmental Comfort Model”
Source: Visher, 2007
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According to Abdul (2012), the idea of environmental comfort happen when one of the categories is absence or weak, another categories can be compensated if the categories having high strength. Therefore, the best result from environmental support can occur when all the three comfort levels is used and stress out.
Visher (2005) stated that, workers are performing their task differently;
therefore more or less they are affected by environmental factors such as noise level, temperature, lighting, furniture layout and ergonomic. It is also mentioned by Imrana et al. (2015) that work environment is also believed to be a key factor for better performance of human resource for health in any organization.
Sedarmayanti (2003) mentioned that, when workers can perform well like doing their job or task in a secure, ideal, health and comfort is defined as a well being working environment. Khaled and Haneen (2017) also mentioned that, workers are pleased when the work environment features such as access to natutal, ventilation rates are being detailed by their employer or workspace.
Workers and health and productivity will be affected if workers are exposed to bad or unsafe work environment which they feel their workplace not in a good condition such as having poor ventilation, immoderate noise, inadequate lighting and other work environment factors (Chandrasekar, 2011).
2.4.2 Ergonomics (Work Process Design)
Chapanis (1985) said ergonomic is when a person deals with the application given and about human behavior, machines, tools, task or job environment, capabilities and limitations to the design of the system and the
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effectiveness of the designated system use by human. Ergonomic workplace is build to ensure that there are a good fit between workers and their workplace area or job, therefore having ergonomic work station can increase worker‟s safety and health, comfort, productivity and also their efficiency.
Without proper workstation build for the workers, workers can have stress while performing their job. According to Makhul and Idrus (2009) stated that in production operators of the multifunctional electronic manufacturing companies in Malaysia it is found that ergonomic workstation factor has significantly important towards work stress. Wrong body posture while performing task can lead to work stress (Tarcan et al. 2004). For example working in a static nad prolonged movement, it can reduce the flow of the blood to tendons which it can cause strain and fatigue among workers (Wojcikiewicz, 2003). Dahlberg at el (2004) also stated that working with hands above shoulder level can result in stress among workers. When the body posture is not in a right position, stress can be triggered at the body area such as at the neck area, shoulder, arm, thigh and also having knee problems (Magnusson and Pope, 1998).
Kroemer (1989) stated that, using pointing devices, using hand tools or power tools and assembly line action and typing is one of the examples of repetitive motion. Soft tissues such as muscle, nerves, ligaments and tends can be affected due to repetitive motion either in a temporary time or permanently. Other than that, other part of the body such as writs, hands, shoulders, elbows, neck, back, hips, knees, ankles and legs could be damage (The National Defense Centre for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE), 2008). Besides that, Zafir (2016)
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stressed that uncomfortable workstation environment also can resulting in work stress among workers. This should be avoided as its can affect workers‟ ability to perform well in their task and also affecting workers productivity levels.
Nationale Institue of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (1992) stated in 1st of December that, only a decade ago ergonomic was introduced with establishment of the ergonomic division by NIIOSH even though Malaysia is one of the Industrial Developing Countries.
2.4.3 Humidity
Human being comes upon thermal (hot and cold) stress from climatic conditions, body heat production and insulation worn (Michael et al. 2001).
According to Michael et al. (2001) also humans regulate core temperature within a range of (35 ºC to 41 ºC) through two parallel processes which are physiological temperature and behavioral temperature. As per mentioned by Abdul (2012), human body tries to maintain on ideal temperature because temperature plays significant role in workplace environment.
Aamodt (2004) stated that there are four components in temperature which are humidity, second is temperature, third is air flow and fourth is temperature of the objects in the surroundings. This shows that, hot and cold can influence and can make workers feel the comfort or uncomforted of their surroundings. High temperature can have direct impact on workers health and it can lead to stress and heat exhaustion (Chandrasekar, 2011). Seghal (2012) explained that higher temperature might be suitable to slender workers compared to bigger size workers that need a lower temperature to work better.
25 Figure 2.5
“Possible Effect of Temperature Level Affect Workers at Workplace”
Source: Khaled and Haneen, (2017)
Workers also can lose focus when they feel discomfort at the workplace (Kamarulzaman et al. 2011). As per mentioned by Clark (2002), extreme factors at workplace environment can also be a factor of stress towards the workers. For example excessive heat at workplace can create mental depression and also can affected workers performance. Smith et al. (2000) in his study find that excessive cold also can impede mental abilities towards workers and also can leads to absenteeism and also influence in workers performance.
Besides that, according to Hancher et al. (1998) excessive heat exposure is a well-known occupational health hazard that can contribute to some illness such as cramps and the worst case is death. Chan et al. (2016) also added that exposure to intense or prolonged humidity and heat can reduce workers enthusiasm and concentration when working, can lead to heat stress illness such as stress and anxiety disorder and also can increase workers irritability. Graff et al. (2014) mentioned that thermal conditions produce physiological and psychological stress and strain on a person, where the person can consequently having health, performance and cognitive problems.
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According to Badayai (2012) hot environment is not a healthy environment for workers and in the recent years it has been increased workers psychological effects. Therefore, the main purpose of most study related to hot environment is to obtain a healthy work environment where it can lower psychological and physical disorders (Habibi et al. 2015). Olli et al. (2006) in their research stated that, indoor temperature can be controlled by adjusting the degrees of accuracy depend on the buildings and its HVAC system. They also stated that many evidence had proof that when increase indoor environmental conditions it will significantly influence health and productivity.
Liu and Cai (1995) in their study found that temperature, body heat production, metabolic heat balance status, wind speed, adaptation to low temperature and tolerance is the main reason for cold effect at cold workplace environment. Farideh et al. (2009) stated that, for cold stress, exposure to cold work environment is one of the health hazards and it can posses adverse health effect on workers, performance and also productivity. Holmer (1997) mentioned that, cold stress condition happen when the heat loss in human body is greater than the heat gain by the body. There are several studies that examine the effects of a low temperature working environment and its impact on stress in other locations besides Malaysia (Hassi et al. 2003, Holmer, 1998, Mercer, 2003).
2.4.4 Acoustics
According to Gifford (1996), sounds can be divided into two which are noise and music. Gifford defined noise as unwanted sound and desirable sound which is called euphony. He also added that sound can be classified as noise or
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euphony depends on the individual employee and also employees‟ situations.
Some noise at workplace might not be regarded as unpleasant sound and also some might not regarded as euphonic to certain employees. Berry (1998) stated that, noise on the other hand is a psychological concept involving more than perception of sound and the sound intensity is measured in decibels (dB).
World Health Organization (WHO), (1995) come out with statistics that in Europe, it is found that workers exposed to noise level above 65 dB (A) is 23 % of the entire population. It is also stated that this figure is worsening when comparing to early eighties. Moreover, Khaled and Haneen, (2017) stated that noise is the common complaint in offices workplace.
According to Kamarulzaman et al. (2011), in office working area, noise is something that cannot be avoided by workers. He also added that when sound is turn off workers productivity will increase and errors in work are also reduced.
Noise also identified as ambient stressor by Sundstrom, Rice, Town and Brill (1994), where they found that ambient stressor have related to job satisfaction in the work environment.
It is also mentioned by World Health Organization (WHO) (1995) that, human will have difficulty in communication, rest and sleep, and general annoyance when they are exposed to noise. When they are exposed to noise, in a long term or over limit of exposure, it can influence workers well being and also perceived life. Figure 2.6 shows the analysis of the effect of noise on mental health by Tarnopolsky et al. (1978). Figure shows that noise sensitivity may be
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vulnerability factors for noise effects on mental health, meanwhile annoyance may not be a mediating variables between noise and psychological disorders.
Figure 2.6
“Analysis of the effects of noise on mental health”.
Source :Tarnopolsky et al. (1978)
Melamed et al. (1992) and Leather et al. (2003) found that over limit noise is one of the stress factors. It is mostly happen among blue collar workers. Fair brother and Wam (2003) mentioned that workers ability to focus on doing their task will be disturb by the noise coming from telephone ringing, background music, loud conversation through phone and loud typewriting. They have suggested minimizing work stress at workplace; the noise level should be minimizing too. Some studies also related that noise have been found as stressful and can demoralize workers when working (Evans and Johnson, 2000).
Also added by Abdul (2012) exposure to noise is not only give harm to hearing only but it can give harm to workers by having impair the job performance, endocrine gland and can also indicate a physiological stress.
Mealamed, Fried and Froom (2001), in their study agreed that noise can
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contribute to cardiovascular disease, endocrine and digestive reactions especially when they are performing complex jobs as they found that noise is a stressor for individual employees. According to Kjelberg and Skoldstrom (1991), study showed that the most sensible workers in office towards noise are workers who do reading comprehension and memory, especially the noise coming from other worker‟s conversation. When the noise source cannot be control and cannot be predicted office workers will feel more distracted. Sometimes, the most common office equipment such as printers, phones, heating and air-condition unites, PC‟s and conversation of office workers can disturb workers focus when perform their task.
People who have exposed to intense of 93 dB of noise showed higher stress level with greater physiological arousal, compared to a control group working in a quieter place or condition (Millar and Steels, 1990). Meanwhile, Cohen and Weinsten (1981) found that workers who work at a noisy industrial sites having harmful effects especially for cardiovascular disease.
2.4.5 Lighting
According to Flynn et al. (1973) lighting can have an instant effect on the perception and appraisal of a space in a workplace as it is one of the few environmental parameters. By adjusting its direction, luminous balance and intensity, the room area will change drastically same goes with the office area. I Vogels (2008) also supported that when there are different illumination of light inserted in a room, the room area can be changed from cozy to lively room area.
Different lighting conditions can also triggers changers in mood and emotional
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state and this adjusting light not only affect the evaluation and perception only (Brainard et al. 2001).
Kamarulzman et al. (2011) stated that colors are various. Everyone have their own perception towards colors. Therefore, a color in office workplaces is essential to make sure that workers work in efficient and also can create productivity of a worker. Besides, it can also enhance mood of a worker and also their wellness. This is supported by Garris and Monroe (2005) where they are agreed that mood and wellness of workers can be enhancing by having colors.
Kamarulzaman et. al (2011) also stated that, to enhance work place environment color scheme plays the important role. Veitch et al. (2013) mentioned that in their research that proper lighting may influence office employee‟s engagement and having effect on employees‟ effectiveness.
Work stress can be minimize, when the right lightings is used (Sutton and Rafaeli, 1987). Aaras et l. (2001) and Leather et al. (2013) said that workers can get eye strain and stress in the workplace when there are high levels of glare and minimum of light use. Syahrul and Emma (2010) also said that, colors bring out different mood to building occupants. It is stated that, some colors may give calmness, comfort and some can stimulating building occupants and give impact differently. Therefore, they mentioned that, colors should be chosen wisely in order to enhance mood of the employee and in order to encourage productivity of workers.
Gifford (1996) mentioned that workers efficiency and quality will be increased when there are proper and sufficient light. He also added that, there are
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there are four factors that give primarily effects when the light is adjusted which are first is sources of the light (sunlight, fluorescent, sodium vapor and incandescent), second is fixtures which are ceiling, floor lamp and desk. The third factors are amount of lighting which is illumination and the fourth is the arrangement such as the angle of work surfaces, uniform versus non uniform.
Some studies conducted by Schultz and Schultz (2006) concluded that workers required the right amount of light depends on their nature of work being performed. The workplace area is considered workers work in outdoor area or in an indoor area either they are working in day or night. Performance of the workers can be either increase or decrease based on the different illumination during work. Inadequate lighting is one of the sources of distress and it can lead to poor job performance. This can be happen when the workers exposed to uncomfortable working environment such as they are moving with too high glare, lack of natural light or dim bulk in the office.
2.4.6 Working Hours
Working in very long hours has been determined as a contributing factor for increasing risk of illness and injury (Persaud and Williams, 2017). Long working hours is defined as exceeding eight hours per day at work or greater than a 40 hour work week (Malaysia Employment Act, 1995).
According to Syed et al. (2014) it is found that long hours of working is one of the factor contributing to occupational stress. Kaufman (2005) stated that in every day environment and also global organizations, workers who work with extended hours is listed as one of the result from stress and burnout. Swee et al.
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(2007) mentioned that workers tend to work with extended hours as they need to meet many datelines and the time pressure given by their employer. They need to send their work task in a dateline given and this required them to work extra to fulfill the task.
According to Hasan (2002), through his study in Tehran University, Iran find that the stress factors among physical education is they have significant relationship with organizational job stress with pressure for time pressure, job importance and work quality.
Despite all that, according to Kundi (2003) another factor that can contribute to work stress is working in a shift. A statistics from Costa (2003), tabulated that workers who dislike working in a shift system is between 20% to 30% where they said that when working with shift time table workers tends to have insomnia, digestive system problem due to changing of eating habits and impedes mental functions that can lead stress. There is also increasing number of evidence showing that shift works can lead to some disease such as myocardial infarcation, ischemic stroke and also cardiovascular disease (CVD). Putton et al.
(2010) in their study stated that, between shift work and CVD there are a pathway mediating which is occupational stress.
Chronic fatigue can be getting from long working hours and also from not having sufficient rest. Supported by Savery and Lucks (2002) and Tucker 2003 extreme fatigue comes from long working hours can lead to stress. They also added that both chronic fatigue and stress can be a reason for an accident happen
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at the workplace. Acute stress in workplace can be happen due to long working hours (Lacovides et al. (2003).
On 2015, National Institute Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ad conducted a study where they found that medical residents who work more than 24 hours had two times likelihood to be in a car crash driving after their work shift and five times likelihood to be in a near miss accident compared to medical residents who works with a shorter shift. Therefore, through this survey conducted by NIOSH, it is clearly showed that working with long hours not only bring injuries and illness at the workplace but also can affect the workers beyond their working hours. Bannai et al. (2014) had conducted correlation between long working hours with health outcomes. It is come out that there are association between long working hours and adverse health affect such as diabetic, metabolic syndrome, circulatory disease, anxiety and other psychological stress, decrease cognitive function, poor sleep and behavioral disorders.
2.4.7 Workload
Workload is defined as excessive values of demands and pressure that do not in par with workers knowledge and abilities (Jex, 1998). Other than that, Division of Human Resources, (2000) define workload stress as lack of enthusiasm to come to work and a feeling of constant pressure for example workers have no effort to come to work, accompanied by the general physiological, psychological, and behavioral stress symptoms.
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According to Carr et al. (2011), job demands or workload can be thought as consisting of intrinsic task requirements, the levels of uncertainty, time pressure, and the rate, amount and difficulty of work. Erkutlu and Chafra (2006) claimed that, for workload, if the employee has high personal control over work, the arousal will likely be released in the normal execution of the job. On the other hand, Erkutlu and Chafra (2006) stated that, if the arousal is accompanied by a perception of low personal control over work thus, leads to negative psychological and physical consequences. According to Thomson (2009), 52% of The U.S. workers reported having overly heavy workload in their daily work.
Furthermore, Al-Aameri (2003) has claimed in his studies that pressure originating from workload become one of the six factors of occupational stress.
According to Shah et al. (2011) workload and stress issues are increasing day by day, which require thorough studies to resolve the issue. According to Elloy and Smith (2003), work overload occurs where multiple demands exceed resources, and may be other qualitative or quantitative. Elloy and Smithh (2003) stated that, qualitative overload refers to a situation where a task is too difficult to complete, meanwhile quantitative overload is experienced when there are too many tasks that need to be done.
Through a statistical evaluation by National Statistics Great Britain (2017), workload pressures such as tight deadlines, too much responsibilities and lack of support from top management is one of the main factors reported by respondents and lead them to stress. It is supported by Labour Force Survey (2009/10-2011/12), the predominant causes of work related stress, depression or
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anxiety included of too much work or too much pressure and responsibility in an organization, workload and a task that required particular datelines. Figure 2.7 showed the rate of self reported stress, anxiety or depression prevalence in Great Britain, by their cause or made worst by work.
Figure 2.7 “Estimated prevalence rates of self-reported stress, depression or anxiety in Great Britain, by how caused or made worse by work, averaged 2009/10 - 2011/12”
This statement also supported by The UK‟s Health and Safety Executive (HSE), (2006) where stated that workload is the most pervasive factors linked to work related stress where stress can be happen when there is a miss match between work demands and resources or capabilities of the individual at work to meet the required demand. Through a study conducted by Natalie and Emma (2017) stated that the stress levels were highest among the officials working on construction sites and the officials working in the support functions. From those people working in office at construction site, 61% of them perceiving a high level of stress and mentioned that workload is a main reason for this. Other than that, through a research conducted by Swee et al. (2007) at a Tobacco Company for
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management staff found that workload is the three main sources of stress where 28% workers agree to get the stress from the workload. To be adding, work stresses among community nurses also have positive relationship with work overloads and time constraints (Wilkes et al., 1998).
37 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This chapter will be discussing on the methods that will be use in order to do this research. In the early chapter of the study, it is started with the identification of problem arising for the study, the objective of the study and the scope of the study. In chapter 3, it is divided into three stages of methodology involved in this study. The first stage is known as research design, the second stage is collection of the data and the third stage is data analysis. A survey method was conducted for data collection in order to gather data from the respondent sample. At the end, the data will be process through data analysis by using Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) version 20.
3.2 Research Framework
According to Sekaran and Bougie (2010), dependent variables and independent variables need to be illustrate by using framework as framework is the foundation of the entire project paper. In this study, dependent variable is physiological stress and for the independence variable are Ergonomic Workstation Factors which include the work process design, Humidity, Acoustics, Lighting, working hours and also workload. Figure 3.1 shows the research framework used for this study.
38 Figure 3.1
Research Framework “ERGONOMIC FACTOR AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE”
3.3 Hypothesis
In this research hypothesis was developed to test the independents variable and dependent variable. A number of hypotheses are developed as per below:
H1: There is relationship between work process design and physiological stress.
H2: There is relationship between humidity and physiological stress.
H3: There is relationship between acoustics and physiological stress.
H4: There is relationship between lighting and physiological stress.
H5: There is relationship between working hours and physiological stress.
H6: There is relationship between workload and physiological stress.
3.4 Research Design
A non experimental studies (observational studies) was choose as a study design in this research, where researcher do a cross-sectional study for office workers in a manufacturing industry located in Gebeng, Pahang in this study.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE:
ERGONOMIC WORKSTATION FACTORS
Working Environment 1) Work Process Design
2) Humidity 3) Acoustic 4) Lighting 5) Working Hours 6) Work Load
DEPENDENT VARIABLE:
Physiological Stress
