Being A Casino Employee May Pose Health Risks

According to a new report, long hours and poor conditions pose a great risk to the health of casino workers. A survey on the working conditions in casinos was conducted by the GMB union in Scotland in time for Glasgow's impending bid on a license for a super casino.

It was reported in the study that collectively speaking on the five casinos dotting the city, 75 percent of the workers suffer neck and back problems, 20 percent suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome (a form of injury on the hands), while almost 80 percent of workers complain of chronic fatigue and sleep disturbance due to the late hours of operations in casinos. Aside from these physiological problems, the study also showed that there is a growing number in cases of violence, in some cases assault.

Some of the violence stems from the acquiescence of staff workers to abusive big spending patrons for fear of losing their favor. Racial harassment have similarly doubled over the past three years, while two out of five of the female workers indicated that they had been sexually harassed at least once in the workplace.

"Casinos are seen as glamorous, but the view from the inside is radically different. It's time operators worked with government and the trade unions and cleaned up their act. If they do not they will see not only poorly motivated workers, but hefty damages claims too," said Richard Leonard, GMB's Glasgow organizer for casino workers.

But in the middle of the drudgery of work came one reprieve in the form of the smoking ban. Stemming from the enclosed space that allowed majority of the customers to smoke, the exposure of the workers for long hours prompted many of them to also include poor air quality in their list of woes.

There are already four casino proposals in Glasgow at present, following the addition of a development company which plans to built one casino with a �1.2 billion working budget. Scotland already has 12 casinos with 1,000 workers, more than half of which work in Glasgow casinos.

The GMB has prompted casinos to begin protecting the workers by introducing a zero-tolerance policy for all clients that are abusive and threatening. They also prompted the lessening of 12-hour shifts with longer rest breaks.

"We will be looking at this report in depth. We take the health and safety of our workers very seriously and so this report is of a concern," said a representative from the British Casino Association.