Three quarters of Scotland's call centre workers say they are stressed at work, according to a new survey.

Public services union Unison said that almost two thirds of its members working in the industry have suffered pain in their hands, wrists or back.

More than 80% of the 500 people surveyed also said that background noise levels made listening and speaking a strain.

Call centre charter priorities

Fair pay and conditions Better job design Chance to join a union Training and development Health and safety Positive worklife balance

Unison revealed the results of its study as it launched a new charter which it said would improve conditions for the country's 46,000 call centre workers.

"This charter aims to develop best practice in this important industry," said Scottish organiser Dave Watson.

"It recognises that while progress has been made recently, all call centres need to be brought up to the standards of the best."

The union sent its survey to 500 members at random.

The results suggested that 61% of those questioned had experienced pain in their hands, wrists, upper arms or back.

Some 75% said they felt stressed at work, with 66% saying that monitoring affected their stress levels.

Health checks

Only 12% of workers said they had suffered a hearing impairment.

But just 15% said the background noise levels were comfortable and 82% said they made listening and speaking a strain.

However, the union did acknowledge that there had been improvements in equipment and workstation design and a greater recognition of the importance of regular breaks and health checks.

Equipment design is getting better

Almost 75% of those surveyed said they received regular breaks, while 71% thought their equipment was comfortable, efficient and easy to use.

Mr Watson said he thought these advances were due to increasing unionisation.

And he added: "Health and safety are also improving. However, as our survey shows, there is still much to do."

The Unison charter, called Raising the Standard, contains six key principles for raising standards.

These include fair pay and conditions, better job design and the chance to join a union.

The industry's professional body, the Call Centre Association, launched its own national standards for best practice in November 2000.

This includes a pledge to give employees at all levels mandatory training and development and the introduction of processes to gather employees' views, disseminate information and take appropriate action.