This study was conducted in order to analyse checkout cashiers’ movements at a checkout counter during interaction with customers and the prevalence of work-related stress and musculoskeletal disorders in checkout cashiers. In one shop, six cashiers were videotaped during the workday, and 50 cashiers from seven shops from the same chain of stores responded a questionnaire. Cashier activities and movements, customer interaction and counter design issues were analysed from the video data. Prevalence of work-related stress and musculoskeletal disorders was obtained from the questionnaire. It was found that 76% of all items were manually turned or angled. With a better adjustment of the scanner and a standardised positioning of the EAN-code, many of these movements could be avoided. Furthermore the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders was quite high (68% for the neck). The questionnaire results showed that many cashiers experienced stress, giving a high percentage of cashiers in the “dedication under pressure” group. The behaviour of the customers was the major cause of stress. Other sources of stress arose from bad design or function of the computer system or other technical equipment.
The design of a checkout counter has an impact on a cashier’s work environment, directly and indirectly by influencing customer behaviour. Checkout cashier work has been associated with high rates of disorders in shoulder/neck as well as hand/arm (Baron and Habes, 1992, Harber et al., 1992 and Lundberg et al., 1999). A more or less continuous flow of items to check and manipulate constitutes highly repetitive work, often done in short work cycles. Such work is associated with a high risk for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) (e.g. Buckle and Devereux, 2002). Extensive measurements of identified risk factors like wrist angle, wrist angle velocity and forearm muscle load in a large variety of occupations, however not checkout cashiers, have been performed by Hansson et al. (2009). Their results indicate large variations in exposure, even within the same occupation.
Detailed analysis of work movements and their relationship to checkout counter design were performed previously (Grant et al., 1994, Grant and Habes, 1995, Hinnen et al., 1992 and Baron and Habes, 1992). However, the fast technical development of checkout systems has since changed the work flow. Furthermore, large differences in counter design and customer habits can be seen between different countries and continents. In the Nordic countries today, a fairly standardised design dominates (see Fig. 1 and Method section). This counter type is referred to as the Nordic counter in this paper.
Several new checkout concepts have been introduced recently, like self-scanning by the customer which eliminate ordinary cashier work. However, according to several representatives for the retail trade, traditional checkout cashier work will likely be the dominant way of payment control for a long time in the future.
The Nordic counter has been studied in relation to physiological responses to physical demands and stress, measuring muscular tension (EMG) and hormone secretion (Lannersten and Harms-Ringdahl, 1990 and Rissén et al., 2002). However, as far as we know, a detailed systematic analysis of cashier work movements in relation to customer behaviour and counter design has never been performed.
The aim of the present study was to analyse cashier work movements in relation to the Nordic checkout counter design as well as to the interaction with customers. A second aim was to get an updated picture regarding MSD prevalence and experienced stress by the checkout cashiers.
The conditions for cashiers in Sweden regarding MSD have not changed much during the last 12 years. There seems to be a poor awareness among cashiers of the relationship between MSD risks and monotonous repetitive movements. Though cashier training would improve the situation, the physical conditions for the cashiers are also affected by poor counter design as well as manual handling of a large number of items. These factors must therefore also be addressed.
The interaction with customers constitutes a major source of stress. The counter design could be improved to guide the customer to a more functional behaviour, for example to stand in a more appropriate position when paying.
Malfunctioning technical equipment is a source for both physical and psychological stresses for the cashiers.
Measures that would improve cashiers’ working conditions include a better design of shopping trolleys and placement of the EAN-code on the items.
