Exposure to disturbing noise and risk of long-term sickness absence among office workers: a prospective analysis of register-based outcomes

Abstract

This study indicates that frequent self-reported exposure to disturbing noise at work is associated with increased risk of LTSA among office workers and that this association may be stronger for women than for men.

Office design as a risk factor for disability retirement: A prospective registry study of Norwegian employees

“…The combination of these health problems may eventually facilitate exit from working life. In support of this hypothesis, frequent selfreported exposure to disturbing noise at work has been found to be associated with increased risk of long-term sickness absence among office workers (33).…”

“…On the other hand, due to the relatively low incidence of disability retirement cases during the follow-up period, a more fine-grained measure with several response categories would require a larger sample size in order to detect differences. Still, future research could extend our result by adding further information about office design and the physical work environment, such as distraction due to noise (33,34). With regard to the indicator of office design, the phrasing of the response categories for "shared office" and "openplan" offices may have led to some overlap as respondents who work in small open-plan offices may have considered this as a shared cellular office.…”

“…In the following, we will highlight two plausible and potentially interconnected explanations that may be a topic for upcoming research. First, sharing office workspace implies coping with distractions from noise and behavior of other persons (33)(34)(35). Humans tend to pay attention to speech and sharing an office may pose added demands for concentration and tax the tolerance for distractions.…”

“…Constant noise can make you tired and lead to a sense of sensory overload, even a three-hour exposure to simulated office noise can lead to increased urinary adrenaline levels (35). Finally, self-reported frequent exposure to disturbing noise at work is associated with increased risk of long-term sickness absence among office workers (33). Consequently, effects of noise in open offices spaces may result in more tiredness, fatigue, and health complaints including headache and mental distress (36,37).…”

Sickness absence and sickness presence in relation to office type: An observational study of employer-recorded and self-reported data from Sweden

“…[4] Another mechanism may be that office design has been associated with factors such as distraction, cognitive stress and dissatisfaction with the environment, perhaps because employees working in open-plan offices have limited personal control over their environment, such as regulating temperature and noise levels. [5][6][7][8] This may limit employees' adjustment latitude and increase rates of illness. [9][10][11] Illness may affect work by causing the employee to be absent from work or to attend work while ill, the latter described as sickness presence or presenteeism.…”