On the occasion of the Secretaries’ Day, PourquoiDocteur takes a look at the risks to which this essential profession can be exposed.
The secretaries… Small hand of the company, essential pillar of a society without which anarchy would reign. Right arm who organizes, coordinates, facilitates, represents, protects… France, inspired by the United States, celebrates the “Fête des secretaires” every year in April. And for good reason: this profession, which certainly suffers from a lack of social recognition, deserves to be erected, at least for a day, on a pedestal.
Especially since the daily life of this profession is not always easy. Like any profession, secretaries are exposed to specific nuisances and particular disorders which can affect their health. The day devoted to them is an opportunity to recall the small and great ills that can affect some of the 672,000 secretaries in France.
Musculoskeletal problems
The profession is essentially female: 97% of secretaries are women. There are no specific statistics on work accidents and occupational diseases among secretaries, but according to the Ministry of Labor, the profession is particularly exposed to musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limbs (in particular carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis of the elbow, wrist and fingers) and neck and back pain.
These risks are linked to the constraint of a sitting posture and the repetitive gestures that it induces. Visual fatigue is also a risk associated with screens, just like hearing problems, when the secretariat is also standard.
Falls, shocks, injuries
Like the rest of the staff of a company, secretaries are subject to varying degrees of working environment conditions. Thus, falls and shocks are among the risks identified. These clashes can be linked to cluttered floors, a lack of access equipment to the top of the cabinets, congestion in the offices, passages that are too narrow, a lack of lighting, etc. As for the injuries identified by occupational medicine, they are often linked to the handling of a cutter, stapler, trimmer, etc.
From the point of view of chemical agents, secretaries also handle photocopiers, laser printers, toner. They are thus exposed to toxic products from these devices and their inks (ozone, paper dust, etc.).
Psychosocial risks
Over the past twenty years, the profession has evolved a lot “with the spread of IT and word processing, but also with the increase in management and coordination tasks which participate in the proper functioning of work organizations”, explains the Ministry of Labor on his site.
Thus, the mental load of this profession has continued to increase over the years (standard, adaptation to software, division of tasks, etc.). This multiplication of tasks is often a source of enrichment and professional development. But it can also induce a psychosocial risk for secretaries, who must also manage contact with other company departments, with customers, and sometimes act as a punching bag … In addition, the multiplicity of contractors is likely to complicate the daily life of the profession, in particular in the event of contradictory or too numerous injunctions.
All of this data tells us one thing: we need to take care of our secretaries. They reflect the health of a company and its staff, and the essential link in a healthy organization. This requires taking into account these specific risks and implementing means to prevent them.
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