Difficult customers highest risk factor at work

The second Europe-wide survey by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA) on the topic of risks at work shows that the increasing growth of the service industry has a clear impact on risk factors: The three most commonly cited risk factors are difficult customers, students or patients, unhealthy work postures (e.g., prolonged sitting) and repetitive hand and arm movements.

Especially in the case of psychosocial risks, companies are often overburdened: While risk minimization handling is often in place for topics such as machine safety or healthy posture, this is less often the case for risk factors such as high stress, long and inflexible working hours or difficult customers. Around 20% of the companies concerned said they had neither sufficient information nor suitable tools to deal with these risks.

The Osha advises training employees to deal with difficult customers and improve safety, shorten work hours and improve standards.