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Archive for the ‘Ergonomic Products’ Category
Conference Features Strategies and Products for Dealing with a Recovering Economy, Healthcare & Workers’ Comp Costs
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 23, 2010 – The 16th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition (ErgoExpo) at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, November 30 – December 3, will highlight the importance of workplace ergonomics in a time of economic recovery. ErgoExpo’s core educational topics of safety, return on investment, increasing productivity, managing healthcare and workers’ comp costs, and the aging workforce will be coupled with workplace specific conference tracks for office, industrial, lab, healthcare, 24/7 and uncontrolled environments including energy, utility, and maintenance.
Problems such as back pain are a major cause of sickness absence in office-based work. Richard Graveling highlights what to consider when setting up an ergonomically-sound workplaceMany people will have heard of ‘ergonomics’ (or human factors) and many will have their own idea of what it is all about. Some will have encountered ‘ergonomic chairs’, ‘ergonomic keyboards’, or other furniture and equipment with the label ‘ergonomics’. Sometimes the label is justified but, on other occasions, it seems little more than a useful marketing tool.
Ergonomics (or human factors) is concerned with the understanding of the interactions among human and other elements of a system, in order to optimise wellbeing (including the risk of injury) and overall system performance. In the office ‘system’ this can cover physical, environmental and psychological aspects of office work and its organisation, not just the desks and computers. This article will outline the physical elements of the office but it is important to recognise that this is only part of the story.
Why bother with ergonomics?
A survey of over 1,300 office computer users, from a total of 130 organisations from throughout the UK, carried out by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), found that nearly three quarters of respondents reported one or more musculoskeletal symptom. According to HSE figures, in 2007/08 an estimated 539,000 people in Great Britain, who worked in the last year, suffered from a musculoskeletal disorder they believed to have been caused or made worse by their work. Between them they accounted for an estimated 8.8 million working days lost, averaging an estimated 16.4 days off per person affected.
It is clear that, in office-based work as with many other sectors, problems such as back and neck pain and upper limb disorders are a major cause of sickness absence from work, with many other people functioning at a reduced capability whilst remaining at work.
In in the present day’s workplace setting, ergonomic workplace chairs are very vital. At work, many workplace staff are sitting more than eight hours per day. Throughout this time, it’s essential that ergonomic chairs be used, as they may help reduce shoulder, back, and neck strain. Regardless that they could value greater than the usual workplace chair, they are a smart investment just because they improve productiveness and may also help prevent severe injury.
When you choose the right ergonomic provide chair, there are several factors you must consider. You’ll want chairs with an adjustable seat, the right lumbar help, backrest, adequate seat depth and width, arm rests, and the power to swivel. You also needs to learn the instruction manual as well and be certain that the entire adjustment mechanisms function properly. If you find a chair to be faulty in any way, it must be returned immediately.
Take into account when choosing your chairs that there’s really no “one dimension matches all” for every body type. What’s greatest for one individual may not be your best option for another. Before shopping for a chair you should give it a attempt to see what you reckon. If it is not possible to test out the chair, it is best to just remember to can get a refund if one thing goes incorrect.
Before you buy or use an ergonomic chair it’s best to fully know proper posture and ergonomics whereas at work or at home. One of the fundamentals to ergonomics is ensuring [that a] chair’s seat top will allow the consumer’s ft to stay firmly planted on the floor. It is also excellent if the chair provides a lumbar help, which can fit the inward curve of the lower again area.
Ergo Journal regularly publish articles, tips and advice on how to arrange your office workstation in an attempt to raise awareness of basic workstation ergonomics and reduce the stresses we each face on a daily basis.
With laptop computers now firmly outstripping sales of desktop computers around the globe, additional consideration by individuals and employers should be given to workstation ergonomics if the laptop is going to be used for any reasonable amount of time in one place.
I use a laptop myself and make sure I practice what I preach by using a laptop stand to lift the screen height, a dedicated mini keyboard, wrist rest, ergonomic chair and so on as I predominantly use my laptop whilst at my desk in the office.
We recently discovered a highly insightful white paper published by Ergoton, specialists in display mounting technology. The white paper is based on academic research spanning 25 years on the subject of comfortable computing and is entitled: Comfortable Portable Computing: The ergonomic way.
Within any organisation, it tends to be the responsibility of the employer to ensure that employees are provided with the tools and education to carry out their jobs safely.
Working in a manufacturing or construction environment, it is often easy to see evidence of these assessments, high visibility jackets, signage, warning alarms and so on make it easier to appreciate the health and safety risks and considerations for employees and site visitors. But what about the health risks in less ‘dangerous’ working environments, such as the office?
Within any given office the dangers may be less obvious, no heavy machinery for example (vending machines, water coolers and photocopiers excluded) but the apparent calmness of the office does not mean that employees are not at risk from health issues.
What about Workstation ergonomics? Injuries such as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) can potentially lead to long term illness and a loss in productivity yet can often be avoided.
One way to ensure that the tools and education are provided to employees to highlight and minimise risk at the workstation, or desk’ is to carry out a risk assessment on each employee and their workstation, and put in place any corrective actions should a risk be identified, thus creating a healthier, more productive working environment.
We were recently forwaded an article that addresses many of the issues we are frequently asked about; what should I look when buying an office chair?
If you are like me who spends a major part of life working on desk, then I suggest doing a little shopping for an ergonomic desk chair. You might argue that you already have a desk chair, so what’s all this “ergonomics”?
Think about your poor back and neck. When you sit for hours together on our desk chair, you give a tough time to your back. This results in backaches and stiff back.
Ergonomic furniture in general and ergonomic desk chair in particular is tailor-made for comfort and ease. You will forget what pain is, once you start using ergonomic desk chairs. Ergonomic products are the best friends for your back and neck because they are designed keeping in mind your body and its contours. Ergonomic chairs keep your spinal chord straight and reduce your fatigue drastically. This, ultimately, enhances your productivity.
In a recent report published in the U.S. We are informed of how ‘Technology has brought huge advances in the power and capability of the machines which support us in our work. The human machine evolves at a somewhat slower pace. The result: workplaces which can at times resemble medieval torture chambers, at least as far as our necks, eyes and hands are concerned! The adaptation of machine to man is the concept of Ergonomics. Ergonomic products seek to enhance the interface between technology and the human form. Ergonomics attempts to identify the physical points of stress, and then minimize or eliminate that stress through superior design of workstations.
The economy of ergonomic improvements is reported in case studies in Swedish companies. Poor workplace ergonomics and related musculoskeletal problems were already known and had caused repeated sick-leave periods at the companies. Expenses associated with certain preventive activities were accounted for the financial effects. When costs were compared to gains, the improvements appeared to be highly profitable. (Kristina Kemmlert, Solna, Sweden)
There are still a lot of people who do not realize that the body pains they bear are often attributed to the bad ergonomics in the office. According to ergonomics, no matter how healthy a person is, once he or she is forced to work using office products with bad ergonomics, he or she can develop a world of medical problems such as upper and lower back pain, leg, hip, and neck pain, as well as severe headaches and migraines. (Tomer Harel, How Ergonomic Office Products can Improve your Life)’
We are often asked: What is ergonomics?
According to The International Ergonomics Association, ergonomics is defined as:
‘Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.’
Put simply, the science of designing and arranging products and the local environment to minimize the risk of injury and maximize productivity.
Poor ergonomics (or understanding of ergonomics) could lead to a Repetitive Strain Injury, which can be incredibly painful for the sufferer and can lead to loss of productivity to employers, it is therefore big business!