Phone call volume stresses Tasmanian Police!

Thanks to Donal O'Neill from Less Stress Strategies for alerting us to this interesting story

All in all, the mobile phone is a great invention but according to Anne Mather of The Mercury, workers in the Tasmania Police radio room are suffering increased stress due to ubiquitous mobile phones.

The problem is that for every road accident they now get upwards of 40 calls about it from the public. Prior to the growth of mobile phone usage, they may only have got two or three calls.

This adds to the work load which is already increased due to lower staff levels and sick leave.

In a recent staff mental health survey, completed by half of the workers, 42% were suffering from stress.

In the last financial year a total of 9047 hours were lost in sick leave. This is a rise of 120% over 4 years.

Obviously there will be factors other than volume of calls to be considered but dealing with calls is the main function of the radio room.

Not everyone loves the mobile phone!

You can read Anne Mather's article here.