Stenography

STENOGRAPHY. The literal translation of "stenography" is rapid printing (from Greek stenos-quick and type-'print letter, font'). The stenographer is a very common type of worker abroad in offices and trading firms, performing simultaneously the work on a typewriter and simple stenography-stenographic recording of letters under dictation, articles, etc. In the USSR, the type of typist-stenographer is also gradually being developed; however, at this stage it is necessary to consider workers of typing and stenographers as two separate professional groups, each requiring its own independent characterization. Typing workers represent a significant professional body of over 100,000 people (throughout the USSR), consisting of 99% women. The work of a typist proceeds either in a common room with other employees of the institution or in specially allocated rooms. The working environment in both cases is completely different. In the first case, the typist directly faces clients giving the work, from whom each often asks to write it faster, creating an atmosphere of haste and nervous tension; in the second case (in a typing bureau), the order for printing falls to the senior typist (head of the typing bureau), evenly distributing the work among the typists of the bureau. The minus of typing bureaus is the noise from the clatter of dozens of working typewriters, traumatizing the hearing organ, one of the most important working organs of the typist (dictation!). However, there is a range of means for muffling the sound, reducing the harmful effect of noise in the typing bureau to a minimum (see below). The main work of a typist consists of three elements, alternating in time and cyclically repeated during the work process: a) parsing of the handwritten (sometimes printed) text and numerical material, b) recording on the typewriter of the phrase (or part of the phrase) read and retained in memory, or a number, c) visual control of the resulting record. This work of a typist imposes a number of requirements on various organs and systems: 1) it requires significant and continuous tension of the visual organ (illegible handwriting, manuscript written in red ink or pencil!). As a result, we have a number of complaints from typists indicating the phenomenon of eye fatigue - phenomena of muscular and accommodative asthenopia (headaches with specific localization in the temporal region, above the eyebrows, double vision after strenuous work, etc.), chronic conjunctivitis as a result of chronic hyperemia of the eye, myopia. (In typists with 5 to 9 years of experience, myopia occurs in 35% of cases, with 10 to 14 years of experience - in 50% of cases, and 15 years and above - in 70%.) 2) By running the eyes from the manuscript lying on the stand to the keyboard (visual control over the correctness of finger strikes on letter keys), from the keyboard to the place of recording (on the roller), making countless turns of the head (up to 3-4 thousand during a working day), the typist gives a great load to the cervical part of the spine. Hyperfunction of the cervical part of the spine can become a factor contributing to the formation of specific spondylitis. 3) The chief occupational disease of the typist, sometimes leading to temporary or permanent disability, is pain in the hands. The following symptomatology is characteristic of the occupational disease of the hands: a) phenomena of motor weakness ("hands like sticks" by the end of the work); along with muscular weakness, a second characteristic sign of the disease is dull, aching, gnawing pains, very often intensifying at night, phenomena of paresthesia - numbness in the fingers (especially in the morning), tingling, a sensation of crawling ants at the tips of the fingers; finally, in a high degree, the localization of pains is characteristic - predominantly the right hand, muscles of the shoulder, upper arm, scapula, and on the left hand, aching in the finger with which the typist holds the register during numerical work. Silvernik points out as objective symptoms often found (but not always) tenderness upon pressure on nerve trunks and muscles (at Valleix points, at Erb's point), and sometimes pain upon stretching of nerve trunks - a symptom analogous to the Lasegue symptom in sciatica. 4) Next, it is necessary to note as a sign of the profession the professional hearing loss found in 53% of all cases during examination by Dr. Temkin. The degree of this hearing loss is not sharp, but it is still greater than 10% of the normal duration of perception of a given tuning fork. 5) Finally, Dr. Gelman attributes to the occupational pathology of typists the functional neuroses found in many examined subjects, correlating with experience, and anemia. He considers the "most characteristic work" (nervous, small, requiring constant participation of the mental function - attention, choice), the work regime, noise in the typing bureau... and such sanitary-hygienic factors as poor ventilation, work in a closed room, sitting position" to be the etiological factor. The occupational diseases of the typist listed above can be reduced to a minimum by observing certain rules of prevention. These include the proper arrangement and maintenance of typing bureaus and the equipment of the typist's workplace. The "Rules" 752 require not less than 16 m³ per worker in a typing bureau under the condition of triple air exchange per hour, a lighting coefficient of 1:5, and artificial lighting of 500 lux at the workplace. The workplace must be equipped with a rational stand, allowing the typist to hold the manuscript at the level of the horizontal line of sight, and to sit upright. Regarding muffling sound, the rules require that "typewriters be removed from wooden boards, placed on rubber feet, and a sheet of porous cork or felt wrapped in a plastic or canvas bag be placed under the typewriters." In a typing bureau with more than 12 working typewriters, the adoption of general sound muffling measures is mandatory (by draping walls, ceiling, etc., on the principle of "air layers", supplying "Underwood" mufflers, etc.). - In order to prevent hand disease, Dr. Rabinovich recommends the following measures: 1) prohibition of chronic overloading of the worker, for which it is necessary to adhere to a rational norm (in 30 standard pages - 54,000 characters); 2) even distribution of work during the working day; 3) prohibition of overtime giving acute overload to the hand; 4) prohibition of constant specialization on numerical work or on wax paper; 5) equipping typists with individual chairs adapted to their height and a rational table with a cut-out middle board (cage) and footrest; 6) inclusion of the "Linoval" device as equipment for the typist's workplace (especially for those sitting on numerical work), making the current harmful method of marking with dots unnecessary; 7) establishing a correct work regime by introducing a system of small breaks; 8) monitoring regular repair and cleaning of typewriters, a factor strongly influencing the ease of lever movement and indirectly, therefore, the load on the hand; 9) supplying typing bureaus with warm water for washing hands after work and generally avoiding cooling of hands in water; 10) rationalization of keyboard constructions (arrangement of letters) with the aim of achieving frequent "hand switching"; 11) establishing a certain standard method of work (ten-finger) and correct hand position; 12) extending the training of hands during training in typing courses depending on the age of the female worker entering the courses; 13) reducing the overload of hands with household work: washing floors, washing laundry, beating out clothes, carrying heavy loads, etc.; 14) introducing a special medical examination upon enrollment in courses.