Philippine gov't orders companies to give workers 'standing breaks'

APD NEWS

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The Philippine government has issued an order requiring employers to provide their employees standing breaks and encourage their workers to do after-work physical activities to improve their health.

In an order, the Philippine Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) asked employers to give their workers regular 5-minute standing breaks every two hours in a bid to reduce sedentary work by getting on their feet or walking around the office.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello signed the Department Order 184, titled "Safety and Healthy Measures for Workers Who, By The Nature of Their Work, Have to Spend Long Hours Sitting" Wednesday.

"This order shall serve as the guide for employers or establishments to address the occupational safety and health and safety issues and concerns related to sedentary work or sitting while working for long periods, such as musculoskeletal disorders, high blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, diabetes, obesity, among others," Bello said.

He said the new measure applies to "all workers who, by the nature of their work, have to spend long hours sitting at work, such as those involved in computer, administrative, and clerical works."

He said the order also applies to "those working in highly-mechanized establishments, those working in the fields of transportation, toll booths, information technology and business process management, and all other processes and industries where sedentary work is observed."

The measure also encourages offices to "change work systems," including "providing sit-stand workstations that would facilitate easy mobility or workers and in conducting standing meetings," he said.

The order further encourages employers to organize health promotion activities that will allow workers to do more physical activities after work, such as calisthenics, dance lessons and the like activities.

The Department Order 184 came out weeks after the government's order to stop companies from requiring women employees to wear high-heels at work took effect in September.

In a Department Order 178, the DOLE mandated companies that female workers, especially sales clerks, security personnel and teachers, should not be required to wear shoes with heels higher than an inch in the workplace.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)