Is the job dangerous? "All professions are harmful": the most unhealthy jobs

The most innocent and safe at first glance, the office, on closer inspection, is a real hotbed of dangers for our physical and mental health. Today we will look at the most well-known risk factors at work and find out how they threaten our health.

• Sitting all day takes years off your life
  It is very harmful to sit for a long time. Pain all over the body and a feeling of weakness is the least of the problems that arise from this reason: too much sitting can lead to early death. You may encounter high risk muscle and bone disorders, obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and more, even if you exercise regularly.
• If you regularly slouch in a chair, it can lead to chronic diseases.
  If your job requires you to sit for most of the day, then you might want to consider getting a device to help straighten out bad posture. If you do not, you will contribute to the development of many chronic diseases, including arthritis and bursitis.

  
  

• Using a desktop with a built-in treadmill can result in injury
  While such desks may reduce the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, they also lead to more typos and can lead to falls and injury.

  
  

• Neglecting breakfast turns into constant stress for your body.
  Are you constantly on the run and regularly skipping your most important meal? If you do this constantly, you will bring your body to stress and metabolic disorders. People who don't eat breakfast are more likely to have high blood pressure, be overweight and have more heart problems than those who regularly eat within two hours of getting up in the morning.

  
  

• Eating fast food regularly instead of a full meal increases the risk of cardiovascular disease
  Majority office workers from time to time they eat junk food instead of dinner, but even rare indulgences can have negative consequences. A serving of "fast food" typically contains twice the amount of calories compared to the same serving of regular food. In addition, it is high in oxidized fats, which increases the risk of heart disease.

  
  

• “Motivational” Meetings Actually Depress People
  In order to set up employees for productive work, employers sometimes hold team building exercises or motivational meetings. However, studies have shown that trying to make people happy about something they are not sure about can actually only increase their dissatisfaction.

  
  

• Recycled, toxic air clogs lungs
  Protection Department environment calls it "Sick Building Syndrome". Indoor air can be up to 100 times dirtier than outdoors, and occupants are exposed to a variety of harmful gases and chemicals. Air conditioners have contaminants, toxic particles, dangerous bacteria and mold all flying around, especially in buildings that aren't cleaned thoroughly enough.

  
  

• If you stay near working printers and copiers for too long, it can lead to lung disease.
  Photocopiers are a source of potentially lethal ozone if the filters are not changed in a timely manner. Even small amounts of this gas can cause chest pain and irritation. The same goes for laser printers with developing powder particles that enter the lungs and bloodstream, which can lead to lung disease and other diseases.

  
  

• It is very harmful to sit with a working laptop on your lap for a long time.
  If during work the laptop is on your lap, and not on the table, then overheating can cause skin problems. For men, however, there is even more disturbing news. New York University researchers found that laptop use can increase scrotal temperature, which leads to a decrease in sperm count.

  
  

• Working more than 10 hours a day can result in a heart attack
  European researchers have found that people who work 10 or more hours every day are at a 60% higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, including heart attack and angina pectoris.

  
  

• Working without a fixed schedule can lead to weight gain and increased levels of stress hormones
  Those who work mostly in the evenings (such as programmers) are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. A 2009 Harvard University study found that people who wake up later have lower levels of leptin (the hormone responsible for curbing appetite) and higher levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol.

  
  

• It hurts your eyesight if you stare endlessly at the monitor
  Even though computer screens don't emit radiation, the strain of staring for long periods of time can damage your eyesight, although sometimes it's only temporary. In addition, you may experience headaches and migraines.

  
  

• Too much light increases stress, fatigue and blood pressure
  Excessively bright light can cause you more problems than everyday headaches. The body perceives overlight as complete darkness, and this confuses your internal clock. You may experience health problems such as overwork, stress, high blood pressure, and an increased risk of certain forms of cancer.

  
  

• Boredom increases the chances of dying from heart disease or stroke
  According to researchers, boredom can actually shorten your life. A study conducted at University College London found that those who complain of boredom are more likely to develop heart disease and stroke. It also increases the risk of accidents at work.

  
  

• A dirty keyboard is as dangerous as E. coli and coliform bacteria
  The keyboard can be fertile ground for bacterial growth if not kept clean. Microbiologists have found that a keyboard can contain up to five times more bacteria than a toilet, including the most dangerous ones such as E. coli and coliform bacteria, which are commonly associated with food poisoning - along with staph, which causes a range of infections.

  
  

• Germs are literally everywhere in the office
  Your keyboard isn't the only breeding ground for bacteria in the office. Door and faucet handles, elevator and printer buttons, handshakes, and more are all hotbeds of bacteria. Germs are everywhere, and some of them can be deadly.

  
  

• Constant Keyboard Use Leads to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  Keyboard overuse is a known cause of carpal tunnel syndrome (carpal tunnel syndrome), which is a painful sprain of the wrist that can spread to the entire hand. The disease can have serious consequences, including irreversible nerve damage and muscle atrophy.

  
  

• Deadlines negatively affect learning and memory
  You get nervous when you have to meet very short deadlines, which in turn greatly slows down your learning and affects your memory, according to data published by Science Daily. This kind of short-term stress can be just as bad for you as stress that lasts weeks or months.

  
  

• Keeping a computer mouse in the same place can lead to chronic tendon strain due to constant stress.
  If your mouse stays in the same place all day long, it can lead to overexertion. Upper limb sprains happen when your tendons are put on more than they should for long periods of time. The reason for this may be repetitive movements or a constant uncomfortable position of the hand.

  
  

• Smartphone abuse can eventually weaken your hands and wrists
  People who constantly use their smartphones to text and emails, are prone to muscle fatigue and the so-called "smartphone finger syndrome", or de Quervain's stenosing tenosynovitis. The consequences can be so bad that the pain reaches the wrist and weakens your hand.

  
  

• Uncomfortable shoes can lead to spinal injury, muscle spasms and chronic headaches.
  The luxurious pumps you wear can make you feel tall and confident, but they also harm your body in unexpected ways.
  Between 2005 and 2009, women's doctor visits for foot problems increased by 75%.
  Uncomfortable shoes can cause spinal injuries, muscle spasms, and even chronic headaches and migraines. In addition, the more painful you are, the more time you will spend sitting, which in itself is fraught with a lot of health problems.

  
  

Source

Excessive, hard work can cause deterioration in your health. For example, hypertension is a frequent companion of those who work hard at the factory, and those who stay up until dark at work in the office.

Recycling is bad!

Scientists have long proven that workaholics get sick much more often than their not so diligent colleagues. They often have heart attacks, and the risk of injury is also higher than the rest. Women who stay late at their workplace usually do not eat normally, but have a snack at a fast pace, abuse smoking and pay less attention to sports and their health.

By the way, even if processing for a week is only a few hours, it still negatively affects the body. Researchers at the University of California Irvine concluded that men and women who work 41-50 hours a week are 14% more likely to suffer from high blood pressure than workers who work no more than 40 hours a week. If more than 51 hours are devoted to work per week, then, accordingly, the risk of earning this disease is already 29%.

Alternate work and leisure

Thanks to scientists, an interesting pattern has emerged: even complex intellectual duties associated with considerable mental stress can protect against hypertension, provided that the employee can actively influence the conditions of his work. To improve your health and to keep fit, active rest is recommended, for example, it is useful to ride a bicycle or go for a light jog in the evening.

Scientists from the Netherlands have proven the negative impact of night shift workers on the state and functions of cardio-vascular system. The results of the research are clear: those who work at night are twice as likely to suffer from tachycardia. And tachycardia in the future can cause heart attacks or even sudden death.

Industrial hazards

Heavy physical exertion at work eventually leads to occupational diseases of the musculoskeletal system, bones and muscles suffer. If an employee systematically inhales harmful substances by occupation, then the risk of getting sick, for example, with asthma or another disease of the upper respiratory tract, increases significantly. Electromagnetic fields, various noises and vibrations will also not add health to a person.

An occupational disease usually occurs when the working conditions are unsatisfactory, in which the employee stays regularly. If it is proven that you have an occupational disease, then the organization in which you work must pay you compensation every month. Sometimes such payments are even 100% of wages. You also have to additional leave, medicines at the expense of your company, every year - a ticket to a sanatorium, as well as other activities aimed at the rehabilitation of your health condition.

It is no secret, however, that labor associated with mental stress is no less harmful than work on industrial enterprises. So, if half of the working day is spent at the computer monitor, such work is assigned the category "harmful". The reason for the deterioration of vision, the occurrence of neuralgia, as well as other diseases can be a long stay at the monitor. Women in position and nursing mothers are generally not recommended this kind of work, so they have the right to demand a transfer to another position.

If the harmfulness of work lies precisely in a long stay near a computer monitor, the employer is obliged to submit lists of employees to Rospotrebnadzor and discuss regular scheduled medical examinations with sanitary doctors.

5 dangers of the office

Danger #1 - Monitor

Keep in mind: working at a computer daily spoils your eyesight. Those who already have poor vision are advised to wear special glasses to work in front of the monitor screen. Their special coating protects the eyes, reduces the negative effect of the monitor on vision. It is also desirable to perform certain exercises for the eyes during the working day.

Danger #2 - Air Conditioning

In summer - coolness, in winter - hot air currents. This device contributes to the drying of the skin, literally dehydrating it. Therefore, at least twice a day, it is recommended to lubricate your hands with a moisturizer and at least once - to restore makeup. Air-conditioned air is also harmful for those suffering from bronchial asthma and other diseases. respiratory system. In addition, "under the air conditioner" it is very easy to get colds.

Danger #3 - Hard Chair

Sitting on a hard chair negatively affects posture, and working in a sitting position generally negatively affects the entire state of health. Therefore, if there is a desire, be sure to stretch - this will make the muscles stronger. You can also solve the problem of sedentary work with the help of lunch walks. It would be nice to refuse the elevator service. Periodically, throughout the working day, you need to do short (literally a couple of minutes) physical unloading for the muscles. You need to get up and do a few simple exercises, at your discretion.

Danger #4 - Picky Employer and Irregular Schedule

Because of these two reasons, you have to be nervous to no end. You work from early morning until late at night, trying to achieve unattainable heights. However, often the result of such efforts is only a nervous breakdown and a broken family life. Understand, finally: the result is important, but no one will pay you money for excessive zeal! Do not do what no one asks you to do and which, in fact, is not particularly important, but takes a lot of time.

Danger #5 - Heels

The result of a constant stay on heels is damaged veins. Of course, it is impossible to completely abandon branded stilettos, so we will solve this situation in a different way: put on changeable shoes at work or take off your shoes under the table and move your fingers.

kill you!

Every day in the morning you run to work. It doesn’t matter if she is loved or not, but this sedentary job suits you, and on the day when they give you a salary, you even like it. You have a table, a chair, a computer, and you create "usefulness" eight hours five days a week.

You are lucky, you are not like everyone else

You work in an office...

Sergei Shnurov, leader of the Leningrad group

You are not a loader, not a miner, and not even a high-altitude fitter, but a simple office worker. In your work, everything is measured and predictable. You think that office work is the safest for health, and the only threat is a stapler, and even that staples have long ended.

But is it? Is office work really that safe?

It turns out not.

Why is sedentary work dangerous?

Quiet sedentary work in a cozy office harms our body even more than hard physical labor. Such work is dangerous because it harms slowly. This is not high-altitude work, in which there is a high chance of falling from a great height. This is a slow killer who quietly kills a person day after day.

Check out the list of the most common diseases that sedentary work causes:

Osteochondrosis. This is the main disease, as it provokes many others. It occurs due to the fact that the spine is in one position for a long time and it does not receive enough necessary substances. This is a serious load on the spine, due to which pain occurs not only in the back, but also in other parts of the body.

Herniated disc. It occurs due to the fact that the spine is displaced due to prolonged pressure. If this process is accompanied by compression pressure, then this is fraught with many diseases.

Slouch. As a rule, a person leans slightly forward during sedentary work, or his head is tilted. It is these postures that provoke stoop. It, in turn, makes the joints and muscles weak and sluggish. Because of this, headaches, neck pain, as well as digestive problems appear, because the posture of a person changes and internal organs are also under pressure.

Excess weight. Every year a person gets better more and more, due to the fact that he does not move much in the workplace. But that's not all. As a rule, office workers are very busy and some do not even have a full-fledged job. lunch break. And instead of having a normal lunch, they snack when they can. As a result, the metabolism is disrupted, and hence the whole work of the body. This also contributes to the formation of extra pounds.

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Due to certain circumstances, sometimes everything turns out so that a person has to work at night: someone chooses a similar mode labor day on own will, someone is forced by circumstances.

But, one way or another, even for fully convinced owls, such a daily routine as a result can be reflected in serious troubles, both in terms of health and in terms of personal life. Unfortunately, our world is arranged in such a way that the processes in it do not stop for a minute, and therefore there are such professions that are required to be at the workplace at every moment of the day and night.

This includes doctors, rescue workers, police, security guards, truckers, and many other professions. Naturally, in most of these structures, work will be introduced in shifts, however, not always and not everywhere.

Regarding night work, and indeed, active wakefulness at night, a lot of controversy has not subsided for quite a long period of time. Is it harmful or not? And if harmful, how much?

What is generally fraught with work at a time when the human body is used to completely immersing itself in sweet sleepy bliss? Let's try to understand this issue, because for many people it remains relevant almost throughout their lives.

Surely, many people know that the human body is a complex mechanism that for millions of years has become accustomed to working according to a certain pattern of biorhythms, and even decades of night shift work will not be able to rebuild it in such a way that it is perceived in a completely calm way for it.

This suggests that being awake at night is unnatural for a person, and, therefore, can negatively affect his health, both moral and physical.

Why do people agree to work at night?

It's no secret that night work is attractive because of high wages, and for the same students who are obliged to gnaw at the granite of science during the day, night is the only opportunity to get hold of some additional funds.

There are also people who are convinced that all their activity falls on the night hours: during the day they feel lethargic, they are practically unable to get up early, but at night they are full of strength and activity. There are, of course, few of them, and these are, in a way, unique individuals who are really, without the slightest harm to their own health, capable of exchanging day work for night work.

The advantages of such a schedule include the fact that a person in the daytime is completely left to himself and his family, he can admire the daylight hours, go shopping and other institutions, while most others are tied to a dusty office chair.

That’s how it is, however, you also have to get some sleep, usually it also happens during the day, which can be very difficult when the daytime noise is annoying and the sun is shining all around.

Someone, working on night shifts, avoids an annoying boss, and someone runs away from family conflicts (in the evening, when all of himself is going to the house, it’s time for the night owl to run to work) and so on. Whichever of the options did not affect such a decision, the conclusion for all remains the same - night work fraught with health effects.

What is the danger?

And yet, specifically, what is the danger of working at night? Scientists have long come to the conclusion that a person, violating the natural rhythm of his own life, first of all, endangers the work of the heart and the entire vascular system.

If every day or even every other day you go against nature and biorhythms, then a person automatically increases the risk of developing various heart diseases, not to mention increased irritability, nervousness and periodic depression.

Also, experts say that working at night for several years, or even decades, can be comparable to serious addictions, such as smoking or alcohol.

In addition, staying awake at night has been shown to alter the production of leptin, the satiety hormone, as well as insulin, resulting in increased appetite at night. People who work at night often arrange themselves with dense snacks, without even thinking about the fact that at this time the metabolic processes are greatly slowed down, which means that the risk of gaining excess weight increases several times.

Night shifts can cause blood sugar and blood pressure to rise, which can lead to stage 1 diabetes.

In addition, recent studies have shown that working at night increases the risk of developing cancer by as much as 40%, especially breast or rectal cancer in women, and prostate cancer in men. Isn't it a very unpleasant list that is not at all justified extra income that can be obtained from night shifts?

What are the dangers of working night shifts?

The main disadvantage of such workers is absent-mindedness, at this time people make more mistakes and shortcomings than in the daytime, and statistics easily prove this: doctors often make wrong decisions at night, drivers get into accidents, and workers on manufacturing enterprises right at night, more are at risk of earning a work injury.

People who have been working in such a mode for years have significantly deteriorated their character: they become prone to grumbling, sharp irritability and even aggressiveness appear, and a state of fatigue accumulates more and more.

In families where the schedules of parents and children do not coincide (children come from school, and parents leave at night for work), communication problems may arise, and, as a result, difficulties in educating and understanding each other.

A few important rules

All this, of course, is understandable, what to do if there is no way out and you have to work at night? In this case, you should provide yourself with a good rest during the day: sleep at least 7-8 hours, preferably 5-6 hours in the morning and 1-2 before work, so you will feel more cheerful at the workplace.

Do not forget about the rules of nutrition: exclude fatty and heavy foods at night, give preference to light snacks: vegetables, fruits, fresh juice, and so on.

Do not overdo it with energy drinks and caffeine, if you really want to sleep, then it is better to eat fruit or drink juice - they will provide you with a burst of energy for a short time.

Russians consider the professions of firefighters, rescuers, policemen and test pilots to be the most dangerous. Such data are provided by the Levada Center, however, representatives of seemingly calm office professions are exposed to no less, and sometimes even greater danger at work. American researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology came to the conclusion that office workers receive hard, including injuries are not rarer than miners, builders and lumberjacks, whose work has always been considered the most dangerous. At the same time, office workers are divided into two groups. The first is those who receive serious damage through their own fault and without the participation of third parties. The second is those who get nuts from angry customers, the police or a violent boss.

In the first group, the leading positions are held by system administrators, engineers, couriers, cleaners and secretaries, in the second - by lawyers, accountants and deputy heads.

In Russia, there are no exact statistics on office injuries, but even without statistics, from simple reports from emergency departments, trauma centers and the police, one can conclude that our clerks are not inferior to their American colleagues.

secretary

Girls sitting at the entrance to the office at solid counters most often suffer from burns, cuts, head injuries and fractures of the limbs. They regularly get burns from coffee machines, coolers and cups of tea, coffee or broth. In one of the Petersburg advertising companies there was a tradition: every day at six in the evening the secretary had to warm up the soup for top managers. For a while, everything was calm, the management champed and slurped the broth in unison, and the girl successfully coped with her duties, but one fine day the young lady dropped a tray with six cups of hot soup on herself. She was wearing a woolen skirt, which only exacerbated the burns. The secretary was hospitalized.

Another female secretary, this time in Moscow, carried a package of bottles of drinking water to the head's office. The plastic burst and the bottles fell on the employee's legs, resulting in a torn tendon.

Another secretary spent a month on sick leave with a concussion. Blame for everything - a poorly fixed window frame, which fell on her head. The girl just wanted to open the window to ventilate the room.

Often, secretaries suffer because of perfectly polished glass doors. So, the secretary-referent of one of the capital's architectural bureaus left due to a collision with an office door for a month. According to Olesya, she was in such a hurry to get home at the end of the day that she did not notice that the glass door to the common hall was closed. “We had a designer handle on the door, also made of glass, so when the cleaners washed the glass, it seemed that there was no door at all. So I kissed my face with all my might,” the girl recalls. As a result, she broke her nose, split her lips and almost lost her teeth. Moreover, the secretary herself then wondered how she managed to hit her face. “I, excuse me, have quite a decent chest, and everything is fine with my posture, I don’t walk head first! I should have just springed, but stuck my nose right into the door!” complains the victim.

Severe concussions are common among women in this profession, mostly from hitting a countertop. So, an employee of the Moscow company for the transportation of goods, Valentina K., firmly kissed her head on the tabletop when she climbed behind a folder with documents that had fallen under the table. “I collected them for a long time, realizing that the boss really needed these papers, I was in a hurry as I could, and then the phone rang. I straightened up sharply, and then I vaguely remember what was happening,” the girl recalls. The blow was so strong that Valentina lost consciousness. The enraged boss, who appeared for the documents literally a minute after the incident, saw only the secretary's legs sticking out from under the table. Fortunately, everything worked out with two weeks of sick leave, which was also paid for by the company. Alas, this is the exception rather than the rule, as employers rarely pay sick leave to their awkward co-workers.

According to Vladimir Kalinin, Director of the Claims Settlement Center for Personal and Property Insurance of ROSNO, employers rarely insure office workers against accidents. "Office employees are the least risky category for the employer. Basically, such policies for personnel are purchased large companies especially banks. When determining the rate for accident insurance for office workers, the lowest coefficient is applied. As a rule, office injuries are similar to household ones (bruises, cuts, etc.). Most insured events among office workers occur on the street on the way to work or home, for example, in winter, when anyone can easily slip on the ice and get injured," Kalinin believes.

Despite the fact that "office plankton" is almost not insured, injuries and damage happen often, which, in general, explains the reluctance of employers to spend money on crippled staff.

Courier

A whole series of attacks on couriers took place in March in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kyiv. All crimes were built according to the same scheme. Through the online store, the goods were ordered to the address of the rented apartment, the criminals beat the courier, taking the order and, of course, not paying for it. Finding scammers is not so easy - they have new addresses every time.

Those who consider the work of a courier to be simple and uncomplicated are mistaken. Apart from liability, which the employee bears for what he transports, the concern for his own integrity and safety also falls on his shoulders.

On Alexei, who worked as a courier in a capital company that dealt software attacked by a pack of stray dogs. The young man fought off the dogs with difficulty only at the cost of bitten legs, right arm and back. He still has injections.

Couriers are more likely than other office workers to get hit by cars. In a hurry to deliver goods or documents, they run across the streets in the most unexpected places. If the collision is the fault of a pedestrian, the employer usually does not pay the costs of treatment.

Accountant

The work of an accountant, as a rule, is quiet, calm, monotonous, even boring. But this is only at first glance. Not only are accountants attacked, scammers regularly rob them, and law enforcement agencies accuse them of embezzlement, forgery, or other illegal activities. On top of that, if you are “lucky” with a boss who is prone to adventures, you will constantly be under pressure: either they will force you to sign a “left” deal, then hide part of the funds from the tax, or engage in “cashing out”.

At the end of last year, employees law enforcement detained fraudsters who forged Sberbank bills worth 20 million rubles and tried to sell them. If the accountant had turned to the bank with such acquired securities, he would have gone under article 186 of the Criminal Code "Manufacturing or selling counterfeit money or securities."

Another danger is associated with the occasional need to carry large sums. An accountant risks even if he rides in a car with a security guard. One example is a case that occurred in the suburbs. Armed robbers provoked a car accident. It was not difficult to take away the bag of money at gunpoint and escape after that. After this ill-fated trip, the company lost more than 6 million rubles, and the accountant - the lion's share of nerve cells.

Engineer

A commissioning engineer from Vladimir was fatally injured after falling from a height of 3.5 meters. He worked on an unsecured wooden deck that had shifted at the most inopportune moment.

An engineer at one of the hydroelectric stations was dragged into the machine with his hand. The man himself did not understand how this happened, because in his native workshop he knows every nut. The hospital insisted on amputation. The injured engineer was lucky: he got a brave and dexterous surgeon who risked an operation. The hand was saved.

In offices, engineers are most often affected by electricity and furniture. When adjusting and repairing electrical wiring, they are regularly shocked, when moving, they crush their legs and arms with furniture.

In addition, engineers are usually responsible for furnishing a new company office or accepting new premises, which also involves a risk to life and health. So, in the Moscow region, when accepting new warehouse premises, a staircase leading to the third floor of the warehouse broke under an engineer. The poor fellow flew one flight, broke through the stairs on the second floor and landed on the concrete floor. Luckily, he escaped with only serious bruises.

A similar story happened to an engineer construction company in the Arkhangelsk region. Andrei Kh. went to inspect the new premises. There was no light there yet, the engineer walked briskly along the corridor on the second floor, opened the doors, examined the rooms. Opening another door and stepping inside, Andrei realized that he was falling down. “There was simply no floor there, and even the window was hung with some kind of rag. The only thing that saved me was that I did not have time to let go of the door handle.” The engineer did not accept the object, but he heartily praised the workers for the qualitatively attached handles.