CALL centre workers should have regular breaks and be trained to deal with abusive calls, according to a new report.

A study by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that half of call centre staff have their performance monitored electronically throughout the day.

Some firms aim to have their staff on the phone for as much as 80 per cent of their shift.

The call centre industry employs more than 18,000 people in the North-East. That includes more than 2,000 at mobile phone company Orange, which has operations in Darlington and Peterlee, and at a variety of operators at Doxford International Business Park, in Sunderland, seen as a major centre of such operations in the region.

The HSE recommended that workers should have a five-minute break every hour to reduce the threat of stress.

The report claims call centre staff are more at risk from computer-related hazards because they do not have the same opportunities as other office workers to take breaks.

But the HSE said the research among more than 1,000 workers dispelled the view that all call centres were sweatshops.

There were good examples, usually where workers were given more control over their working environment and working practices.

Bill Callaghan, chairman of the Health and Safety Commission, said most of the risks that arose by working in call centres were covered by existing regulations.

But he said the HSE was developing new management standards for tackling the threat of stress among call centre workers.

"This is a new and rapidly expanding industry and we want to help those who work in call centres and those who manage them," he said.

New advice being drawn up following the research will deal with how to tackle verbal abuse from callers.

Workers who have just taken an abusive call should be given time to recover and discuss it with a colleague, the report recommended.

Workers should also be given proper training so they are fully competent to take calls from the public which the HSE believed would be the first step in avoiding abusive calls.

There are about 5,000 call centres in Britain, employing nearly two per cent of the country's total workforce.