For our Canadian Friends!

Observe RSI Awareness Day February 29

Repetitive Strain Injuries seriously affect one in ten Canadians.

Dateline: Monday, February 25, 2008

from NUPGE

Ottawa (25 February 2008) — Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) Awareness Day will be marked across Canada this year on February 29.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is pleased to join with other unions in raising awareness of the serious nature of this problem and to urge governments at all levels to take RSI issues more seriously.

The problem has a negative impact on the lives of thousands of workers and imposes a significant cost on the economy as a result of lost days at work.

The problem has a negative impact on the lives of thousands of workers and imposes a significant cost on the economy.



RSI includes a host of occupational injuries affecting the upper body, mainly neck, shoulder, arm and hand injuries. The most common cause of RSI is repeated and excessive movement or long-term use of a given muscle set.

A 2003 study showed that one in 10 men and women suffer from a RSI. While common, it is also an easily preventable injury. Simple changes to the work environment can avoid virtually all injuries of this type.

Changes to the work station, ergonomically designed equipment and furniture and frequent short breaks to change activities and posture can prevent undue strain of muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons.

Workers are urged to report RSI injuries and to file claims that will assist them in taking the time required to heal and recover when RSI occurs.

Employers are required to conform to the ergonomic standards prescribed in the Canada Labour Code Part II and to provincial labour laws and regulations. Where provinces have yet to adopt ergonomic standards, NUPGE urges provincial and territorial governments to introduce this much needed legislation.

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is a family of 11 component unions. Taken together we are one of the largest unions in Canada. Most of our 340,000 members work to deliver public services of every kind to the citizens of their home provinces. We also have a large and growing number of members who work for private businesses.


Related addresses:

URL 1: www.nupge.ca/

Ignoring Ergonomics can lead to negligence claims down the road--See what happened in the Railroad industry

How Railroad Injury Attorneys Analyze Ergonomics to Prove Railroad Negligence


Editor: Richard N. Shapiro, Attorney at Law

Firm: Hajek, Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton, P.C.

February 03, 2008

By Rick Shapiro


What does ergnonomics have to do with railroad worker injuries involving heavy lifting or even repetive stress injuries? Alot, and even the railroads held seminars in 1990 to learn how ergonomics could prevent a wide variety of railroad worker injuries.

The word ergonomics has several definitions, but most experts agree that it involves designing workplace tools or equipment to make them more user-friendly and safe for workers. Most of us are familiar with lawn and garden tools that are made with a handle or grip that is more comfortable, and this is a very basic form of ergonomics. However, the field involves not only changing a grip or a way to hold a tool, but more broadly involves changing work tasks themselves, to prevent repetitive stress injuries before they ever happen. Changing the way work tasks are done is known as an "administrative change." Changing the actual tool or the equipment is known as an "engineering change." These are the two most common ways ergonomics affects railroad workers and workers in any field that repetitively use hand tools or power equipment, that is used nearly every day at work

Although there were discussions about repetitive stress injuries earlier, it wasn't until 1990 that the Association of American railroads decided to hold seminars to explain how ergonomics could help railroads reduce injuries in the workplace. Our law firm has obtained many of the materials which were shared with the nation's railroads, which were a part of these AAR trade organization educational seminars in 1990 and 1991, including "draft" materials. At first, the major railroads were eager to learn about ergonomics--it made sense to learn how to avoid injuries in the workplace because it saves the railroads money in the long run. It was only after rail worker attorneys used the very same materials AGAINST the railroads that the discussion of ergonomics seemed to go "underground." On the one hand, the AAR championed ergonomics, but then when the railroads failed to carry through the prevention methods to various types of rail workers, the same materials are irrefutable proof of railroad negligence in avoiding preventable injuries--that are continuing to occur.

The seminars were incredibly detailed. The railroads in the ergonomics seminars of 1990 and 1991 learned that they must review the total number of claims that were injuring workers, to help analyze which specific tasks were causing injuries so they could be addressed and changed. The supervisors with the railroads were taught how to go about doing a complete ergonomic evaluation in the workplace-after analyzing safety data on previous injuries, railroads learned that slip and fall injuries as well as low back injuries from lifting, were two of the biggest areas that the railroads knew were repetitively causing injuries and which needed attention. The railroad safety supervisor was advised to take pictures of how the tasks that were causing injuries were being done. Further, the supervisors with railroads learned about the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health "lifting criteria." To avoid low back injuries caused by repetitive or heavy lifts, NIOSH had developed guidelines on safe amounts that could be lifted at any one time, much less repetitively. And this was called the NIOSH criteria. A simple NIOSH chart visually showed the railroad supervisor, what amount could be lifted and the criteria explained how the heavier the amount, and the further it was lifted above the waist and away from the body, the less a worker could safely lift on a repetitive basis, or even one time. Not only this, many railroad purchased computer software that could evaluate lifting an repetitive lifting tasks--this was called two dimensional or three dimensional software. Thus, railroads learned how to prevent heavy lifting injuries, and knew that the tasks should be ergonomically changed, as one example of many.

The broad study of ergonomics didn't just include lifting in 1990. Railroad supervisors looked into ergonomic changes to the office environment for clerical railroad workers, and even looked into of prevention of slips, trips and fall injuries. Changing flooring to a non-skid surface, changing the surfaces of work shoes or boots, involves either engineering or administrative changes to prevent slips trips and falls. As a matter of fact, railroad injuries caused by slips, trips or false are one of the specific troublesome injury prevention areas that railroads examined in 1990.

Although all the major railroads studied ergonomics as early as 1990, our firm has developed interesting information with regard to CSX. One of its safety supervisors took the knowledge from the 1990 ergonomics seminars and went into the CSX workplace to evaluate electrical worker/electrician injuries. He followed all of the ergonomic training criteria, by using the NIOSH criteria, studying the type of injuries that were repetitively seen. By analyzing prior claims, conducting photographs of the work tasks, interviewing the workers to determine what was causing the injuries, he applied these principles to help reduce injuries to electricians. What is amazing is that the track maintenance workers with CSX had by far the highest number of low back injuries, and also suffered a significant amount of slips, trips and falls, but CSX and never conducted detailed ergonomic evaluations of these track maintenance workers in the 90s or even up till now. This can be good evidence of inadequate evaluation of ergonomics in the workplace. Also, when a railroad claims there is "no need" for an ergonomic assessment of a railroad worker job or task which has caused numerous injuries, showing the 1991 CSX study of electricians totally refutes such nonsense.

For complete article see http://virginiabeach.injuryboard.com/train-railroad-accidents/how-railroad-injury-attorneys-analyze-ergonomics-to-prove-railroad-negligence.php?googleid=14755

Atlas Copco publishes second edition of Power Tools Ergonomics book

“When you select a hand-held power tool, you not only influence the task the tool is intended to perform, but also the operator’s work situation and the entire work environment. Combined, these factors have a major influence on operator health, safety and productivity.” This is the central theme of the second edition of Power Tool Ergonomics, a book evaluating power tools from an ergonomic standpoint, published by Atlas Copco.

The first edition of Power Tool Ergonomics was written by ergonomist Bo Lindqvist and published by Atlas Copco in January 1997. It was welcomed by automakers and other large manufacturing operations in Europe and the USA.

Revised second edition

The second edition of Power Tool Ergonomics has been revised and updated by Lars Skogsberg, manager, Product Ergonomics, Atlas Copco Tools and Assembly Systems.

”The evaluation method developed by Bo Lindqvist and presented in this book represents a significant contribution to the science of power tool ergonomics,” says Lars Skogsberg.

“To my knowledge, it’s the only book that covers the entire spectrum of ergonomic factors relating to power tools and their use in the workplace.”

In addition to reviewing the physical design of the main types of power tool from an ergonomic standpoint, Power Tool Ergonomics examines operator stressors, including vibration, noise, dust and oil.

It also examines the various types of workstation and the relationship between the ergonomics of workstation design and the economics of the production unit.

Later in the book, one example of each of the main types of power tool is examined and the magnitudes of ergonomic factors are presented in a diagram for each tool. An evaluation of each factor is provided.

Valuable tool for ergonomists

Lars Skogsberg points out that, with its broad spectrum of information, the book is a valuable reference tool for ergonomists.

“Manufacturing operations are now returning to line production and ergonomists are increasingly brought into the project at an early stage. Instead of solving problems as they arise, their role is often preventive. They are consulted on workstation design, tool selection, and the planning of individual operations on the production line.”

With the help of ergonomists, plant managers are calculating the profitability gains that can be achieved by improving ergonomics and working conditions in the workplace. Significant elements are ergonomically designed tools and workstations, reduction of repetitive tasks, good working postures on the production line, and healthy working conditions in the plant.

Lars Skogsberg: “The aim is to eliminate factors that can contribute to low individual productivity and poor quality. In turn, quality related costs such as rejects and customer badwill are reduced. Likewise, preventing work-related injuries and disorders eliminates costs arising from sick leave, rehabilitation and training of replacement personnel.”

Productivity starts with people and is closely connected to their working conditions, health and safety. Power Tool Ergonomics is a good reference work for plant managers and production planners in a broad spectrum of manufacturing operations.

12-Feb-2008

New Michigan Ergonomics Rules Could Soon Become Law

Thursday, February 21, 2008

New Michigan Ergonomics Rules Could Soon Become Law


LANSING - Michigan could not adopt rules creating workplace ergonomic standards if a bill passed by the Senate, SB843, approved on a 21-17 straight party line vote Wednesday, becomes law.

The bill seeks to shortchange discussions that have been ongoing for some years on developing a proposal that would set standards on ergonomic furniture and equipment in workplaces to help prevent and minimize injuries from repetitive stress injuries.

The General Industry Safety Standards Commission and the Occupational Health Standards Commission are reviewing the potential rules, now on draft 15.

Business groups have stridently opposed the rules, arguing they would discourage businesses from locating or staying in the state.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit) said if the state passes the bill it could potentially be in violation of federal workplace safety rules. The state has to have rules that are at least in conformity with federal rules, he said, and if the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration adopted ergonomic rules then Michigan could be in violation because of legislation blocking any rules on ergonomics.

But Sen. Alan Sanborn (R-Richmond), sponsor of the bill, said that excess regulations are one reason that Michigan is less attractive to businesses. Union leaders, trial lawyers and Governor Jennifer Granholm all want ergonomic regulations, he said.



Author: Staff Writer
Source: Gongwer News Service

The Lowdown on Bottom-Line Ergonomics

Feb 12, 2008 11:58 AM , By Kathryn E. Jackson
At almost every seminar I teach or attend I get asked, “How can I justify investing in the agents’ work space?” When I was managing contact centers, this was a very “iffy” situation. But the field of ergonomics has since blossomed, and the return on investment has been significantly substantiated.
Investing in ergonomics is critical. Employers now spend billions of dollars on workers’ compensation claims associated with musculoskeletal disorders, and hundreds of thousands of workers each year suffer from these disorders. Repeated trauma accounts for 62% of all work-related illnesses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Studies have proven that employers can reduce these costs and injuries and thereby improve employee health, morale, and productivity as well as increase customer satisfaction. And efforts needn’t involve costly or complicated processes or controls. Most employers can achieve results through a variety of simple, flexible approaches.
Ergonomics, also known as “human factors,” is the science of adjusting the workplace to the worker. While it has been helpful in cutting absenteeism, reducing on-the-job injuries, and minimizing turnover, no single solution is right for everyone. Workers and employers must develop a long-term partnership to improve contact center ergonomics. It’s an ongoing effort, not a quick fix.
There are an estimated 3 million front-line agents working in contact centers in the U.S. Keep in mind that:
• Most of these agents spend four hours each day making up to 100,000 keystrokes on the computer keyboard.
• A 1% error rate (due to poor posture, lighting, or noise) on a person typing 33 words-per-minute translates to 100 errors per hour or 84,000 errors per year. (Think about the downstream effect of these mistakes to your business.)
• An estimated 85% of the agents in a contact center have keying skills below the minimum standard.
• Regardless of ergonomic furniture and accessories, safe office ergonomics are virtually impossible without correct keying skills.
• Incorrect keyboard use, such as the “hunt and peck” or self-taught keying methods, can lead to low productivity, errors, and fatigue to the wrists, arms, eyes and neck.
Most companies are looking for new ways to make their overall output more cost effective. Since labor costs are a major component of most contact center expenses, improving agent productivity has become a battle cry of management.
You can do this by changing business processes, improving user “tools,” and increasing employee job satisfaction. Few people would disagree with the statement that happy employees who have the right tools to perform their job have the highest productivity.
Ergonomics undoubtedly contributes to contact center productivity. Next time, we’ll look at how to determine if your agents are at ergonomic risk.
Kathryn E. Jackson, Ph.D is president of Ocean City, NJ-based contact center consultancy Response Design Corp. http://www.responsedesign.com/

Ergonomics and Employee Satisfaction

Feb 20, 2008 8:21 AM , By Kathryn E. Jackson



In most contact centers, it is far more cost-effective for employers to retain a good agent than to recruit a replacement. Therefore, keeping employee satisfaction and morale at a good level is a common business goal.

Many companies are providing ergonomically optimized workstations that reduce the high levels of discomfort and tension that often cause agents to move away from their workstation.

Agents will seldom come right out and say to the management team, “My work space stinks!” What you will hear are subtle statements (okay, sometimes not so subtle) like “I don’t have any storage space.” Or “I don’t have anywhere to put my important papers.” Or “I don't have enough desk space to complete all my assignments.”

When Response Design conducts contact center audits, we always ask agents, “Is your workspace big enough for the big job you do?” We ask the question this way because we have found it opens them up to all the workspace issues.

The agents seldom answer with size concerns. Instead they usually start talking about layout, lack of storage, privacy issues, noise, personalization and/or security issues.

By paying attention to these remarks, a company can achieve multiple objectives by enhancing agents¹ sense of value to the corporation, reducing stress and emotional fatigue, reducing sick leave and absenteeism and making employees more positive about the time they spend at the contact center.

These intangibles contribute to the fiscal performance of the company.

Are your agents at ergonomic risk? They may be if they are experiencing any of these common symptoms:

Headaches
Blurred vision
Slowness in focusing (distant to near and back)
Double vision
Eyestrain (sore eyes or eye fatigue)
Eye irritation (burning, dryness, and redness)
Sensitivity to light
Neck and shoulder pain
Back pain

By adjusting the workplace to the user and teaching individuals how to correctly use the computer, contact centers can quantify measurable increases in performance. These actions also reduce risk factors associated with office-related cumulative trauma disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis. Good workstation posture and keying skills help reduce eye, neck, and general body fatigue.

Kathryn E. Jackson, Ph.D is president of Ocean City, NJ-based contact center consultancy Response Design Corp. www.responsedesign.com

Avoiding injury in the workplace

HEALTH MATTERS: Ergonomics -- Avoiding injury in workplace
Basic movements, such as closing and opening the fists, stretching from side- to-side, and bending the fingers, will help keep muscles and joints in good health.
Thursday, February 14, 2008 12:49 PM EST
By Jim McCracken, P.T. Princeton HealthCare System



Each year, thousands of Americans miss work due to sprains and strains caused by repeating the same motion over and over again.

Whether reaching for the computer mouse, typing on a keyboard or sitting in a chair too long, repetitive actions can lead to small injuries that too often lead to larger injuries. Put another way: Cumulative micro- trauma leads to macro-trauma. And macro- trauma leads to days away from work.

However, repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendonitis, neck pain and shoulder pain can often be avoided with a few simple steps to improve the ergonomic conditions of the workspace.

In fact, if an office is set up properly, it can be a win-win for the employee and the employer. When employees feel better and avoid injury, employers pay less in worker’s compensation and have better productivity rates.

Let’s start with the computer, as more and more workers are using computers to do their jobs. Neck injuries often occur when a computer monitor is too high or too low. Either the employee is constantly looking up or constantly looking down. A good rule of thumb is to make sure the first line of print is at about eye level.
Second, for employees who read a lot of documents, a document holder is a must in avoiding neck injuries. A holder helps workers keep their gaze ahead and avoid the need to repeatedly turn their heads and neck to look down. Reading and writing desks also are helpful in avoiding neck strain.

When it comes to typing, it is important to remember that a wrist rest is just that — a rest. Too often people plant their wrists on the rest, which does little good as wrists should be straight and actually floating in the air. The keyboard position should allow the forearms to be parallel to floor and the elbows to be keyboard height. Additionally, the mouse should be right next to the keyboard to eliminate the need to reach.

In order to ensure the keyboard is at elbow height, it may be necessary to raise the chair. In this case, employees need to make sure their feet aren’t dangling. Many people, however, will slide forward in their chairs, which leaves their back unsupported. A better approach would be using a footrest to prop up the feet. Footrests come in varying heights depending on how tall a person is. Those with grips tend to work a little better than those with a more slippery surface. Ultimately, when sitting in a chair, the knees should be even with the hips and the elbows should be even with the keyboard.

Choosing a chair can be tricky, though. If the seat pan depth is too short, an employee’s legs are hanging of the edge and not receiving enough support, putting a greater burden on the leg muscles. One or two inches between the edge of the chair and the back of the knees is recommended. That way most of the leg is supported while not cutting off circulation in the back of the knee.

Whether a seat back rocks or is firm is a matter of personal preference. An optimal angle for the seat back is between 90 and 110 degrees. This prevents someone from leaning too far forward, which can aggravate the discs in the lower back, or from leaning too far backward, which causes the head to jut forward and hurts the neck.

But no matter how comfortable the chair, sitting for hours on end is no good for the muscles and joints. Joints and muscles derive their nutrition from moving around. This is why it is so important to take a short, one-to-three minute break every 20 to 30 minutes. To an employer, this may sound like a lot, but studies have shown that there is little or no change in productivity when workers give themselves a brief rest.

Basic movements, such as closing and opening the fists, stretching from side-to- side, and bending the fingers, will help keep muscles and joints in good health. Drinking lots of water and staying hydrated also helps maintain healthy joints.

Taking a short break also provides the eyes with a reprieve from staring at the computer screen. When someone is always looking at a set distance, the eyes lose their ability to focus. To help prevent this, it is recommended that people take time throughout the day to focus on something in the distance. Light levels also impact the eyes. A lot of offices have too much light. An ideal light level is 250 to 500 lux.

For people who spend much of their time on the phone, it is imperative that they use a headset or earpiece to avoid neck injuries. Cradling the phone between the head and shoulder is just asking for neck problems. Today’s headsets have evolved from bulky, inconvenient contraptions to sophisticated tools that allow a person to move about without disconnecting the caller.

And for writers, there is no better pen than a gel ink pen with a wider non-slip grip at the end. These types of pens require less pressure to hold and write.

By paying attention to ergonomics, people can avoid injury and stay out of pain. These simple steps — from proper keyboard positioning to using the right pen — help keep an employee healthy and make for a better work environment all around.

Ergonomic Furniture Shown To Increase Productivity

Ergonomic Furniture Shown To Increase Productivity

Office managers are just now finding out what chiropractors have known for a long time, that the ergonomics of office furniture—chairs, desks, and computer stations—have a direct effect upon workers’ health and productivity.


In past years, chiropractors have witnessed a trend in which office-related pains have changed from traditional lower back problems to “modern” computer-induced upper back and neck problems.


Because of increased attention paid to ergonomics, office interior designers also have adapted office layouts that now include space for ergonomic considerations.


“There’s a larger percentage of people with office related pain that come into my office” than in the past, said Dr. Franklin Forman, a practitioner at Chiropractic Medicine and Associates in Wheaton. Board certified in occupational health, he estimates that 40 percent of his patients have pain associated with work-related problems, often from bad posture.


“Years ago 80 percent of the people coming into the office had lower back problems,” Forman said. “Now, 50 percent come in with upper back and neck problems.”


The diagnosis is that too many office workers work on laptop computers— not desktops—that workers don’t stretch before work and that they live otherwise sedentary lifestyles.


“People have to consider themselves when they’re at their jobs as if they are athletes,” said Forman. “It’s important to stretch prior to and during the job just as an athlete does a pre and post stretch during an event.”


His recommendation is to take appropriate breaks during work and to do stretching exercises with arms and the upper body. Not only will this alleviate pain, but stretching also has been proven to increase energy and lower stress as well.


The type of computer one works on also has an affect on one’s posture. The ergonomic setup of a computer work area, then, is very important, said Forman.


“Laptop computers as opposed to more stationary computers cause problems,” Forman said. With laptops, the tendency is to bring one’s head forward, to hunch over and, in so doing, harm the neck.


“Good posture is with your arms to your side, elbows at 90 degrees and wrists in a neutral posture,” stressed the chiropractor. Unfortunately, laptop users often fail to work in this manner, making laptops more harmful than their desktop counterparts.


That is bad news for office workers. According to recent data published by the research firm Current Analysis, market share of desktop computers is being edged out by laptops. Businesses are now purchasing more laptops for their employees than desktops. Those working on laptops, then, will be wise to use proper posture, stretching and have active lifestyles to ensure their health.


In addition to chiropractors, interior design firms also are seeing increased attention paid to office ergonomics.


M. Grace Sielaff, owner of interior design firm M. Grace Designs, has noticed clients asking for more ergonomic designs and materials.


“Ergonomics has to do with the form of our body, and everything is important,” said Sielaff. “The setup of computers, the setup of desk, the setup of chairs, whether you have lumbar support. All affect productivity.”


M. Grace Designs takes this into account when designing office spaces.


“When you sit down a lot of people slouch, so if we know that workers are on a computer a lot, we give them ergonomic chairs,” said Sielaff, noting that workers who commonly are “slouching, unhappy, calling in sick all the time” often experience renewed productivity with ergonomic seating.


Multinational companies are also trying alternative methods of seating in an attempt to curb back-related pain.


Last summer, Sprint Nextel Corp. introduced large exercise balls—to replace traditional chairs—in some of its offices. The aim was to promote better posture, better mobility and to inspire creativity among its employees.


Companies looking for more traditional ways to promote ergonomic workspaces have alternatives as well, said Forman.


“If it’s a large company there are people with (a) human resources (department) that make the rounds and look at ergonomic considerations,” he said.


“Small to medium sized companies don’t have these specialists, but there are a number of people who can be called in for that problem, or there are doctors to have occupational health degrees that go into a company to review work place standards that all have to do with physical and mental stresses at the workplace.”


In addition to saving the health of their employees, companies also have another incentive for creating ergonomic spaces.


“It saves long-term costs significantly,” said Forman. “It saves direct costs by lowering workers’ compensation injuries at the workplace. It sends a signal to the employee that the employer cares about their wellbeing. So it builds employee loyalty.


“And because a person is working at 100 percent efficiency and not in an impaired situation where there is either wrist, neck, or shoulder pains, then their output is better.”




full article compliments of The Business Ledger

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