Health fears over 'wearable computers'

The GMB union claimed earlier this week that thousands of warehouse employees were now being asked to wear small computers on wrists and fingers, to speed up the supply of goods to outlets.

The union said that the technology was turning some workplaces into "battery farms" and creating conditions similar to those experienced by prisoners under surveillance.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy said today that small, repetitive movements of the arm in awkward postures were a known cause of work-related upper limb disorder, commonly known as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI).

The society said it was "imperative" that physiotherapists were involved in conducting proper risk assessments and analysing the devices before they were put into operation, so that injury to workers could be avoided.

"We call on employers to work with appropriately qualified physiotherapists to investigate the consequences of using these devices," said a spokeswoman.

'Electronic tagging'

On Monday the GMB claimed the new technology was leading to a "dehumanisation'' of employees, with the devices even being used to monitor breaks and trips to the toilet. A report commissioned by the union claimed the concept of prison surveillance was being introduced into the workplace.

GMB national officer Paul Campbell said that up to 10,000 workers in the UK were now affected by the technology. "The idea is to track work all the time and, although it brings efficiencies, it does not take into account human needs," he said.

Paul Kenny, the union's acting general secretary, added: "This technology, which involves the electronic tagging of workers, has been imported into Britain from the United States.

"The GMB is no Luddite organisation, but we will not stand idly by to see our members reduced to robots. The use of this technology needs to be redesigned to be an aid to the worker rather than making the worker its slave."

System extension

The report claimed that workplaces across the UK were now using the technology and that this was simply a stage along a process towards full automation of certain jobs.

It went on: "The use of headsets, voice recognition, arm-mounted wearable computers in effect make the humans become an extension of the information systems that drive the supply chain.

"The human is not given a list of products to find and then be expected to use initiative and knowledge to find the product. Instead, the information system plans the best route for the human to take and in effect pre-optimises the human being's itinerary."

Professor Michael Blakemore, of Durham University, who wrote the report, said that claims made by the GMB of a high turnover of staff in businesses using the equipment, did not surprise him.

He also warned that the technology could lead to new types of industrial injury, especially as workers had to hold their arms at a certain angle in order to read information.