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Posts Tagged ‘ergonomics in the workplace’
The largest ergonomics event known will be held at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas starting on the 29th of November. The ergonomics exhibition which lasts for 4 days has already grown over 10% since the previous conference.
A major part of the exhibition and its growth is due to new companies signing up to join the show and also exhibitors increasing the size of their exhibit space. With new companies signing up to be a part of this expo the exhibitors include: 3M, AliMed, Cardinus, Equipois, Herman Miller, Power Pusher, Steelcase, Strongarm Designs, and many others. For more information on how to be and exhibitor you can visit the Ergo Expo website.
The Ergo Expo hosts a number of workshops and concurrent sessions free to all attendees. The workshops are basic information sessions regarding industrial ergonomics, and also how to implement the ‘ergo culture’ into your business.
99.9% of previous attendees whom are inspired by the concept of ‘ergonomics’ in the work place have said that they would recommend this event to colleagues and businesses. The National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition (Ergo Expo) focuses on ergonomics in terms of increasing safety, productivity and profitability in the work place.
A Cardiff construction site manager has been fined after failing to comply with two safety orders issued to protect workers from injury.
Mr Haider Zaman, 53, trading as Pride Builders, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for ignoring two Improvement Notices served while he was refurbishing two residential properties in the Cathays area of Cardiff.
During an unannounced inspection of the two sites on 1 March 2011, HSE inspectors found sub-standard safety measures in relation to working at height, asbestos safety and structural stability and issued three Prohibition Notices ordering Mr Zaman to cease work immediately.
Two Improvement Notices relating to asbestos safety training and health and safety competence training were subsequently served to Mr Zaman.
Cardiff Magistrates’ Court heard the Improvement Notices served on Mr Zaman gave him until 10 May 2011 to make the necessary improvements. However, on returning to the site a week later HSE inspectors found the notices had not been complied with, and identified further sub-standard control measures for working at height.
Mr Haider Zaman, trading as Pride Builders, of 174 Mackintosh Place, Cardiff pleaded guilty to two breaches of Section 33 (1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. He was fined a total of £1,280 and ordered to pay costs of £1,500 as well as a victim surcharge of £15.
Using ergonomics to beat the downturn economy
If you asked a room full of British newspaper journalists, “what is the opposite of fun and adventure?” I bet most of them would say “health and safety”.
This can be quite depressing for the health and safety professional, whose main objective is to prevent workplace injuries and allow employees to continue to enjoy fun and adventure for many years to come.
I think it’s ironic that one of our leading driver trainers spends his weekends driving a racing car and that a Cardinus ergonomics consultant is a keen climber. We have seen cases where poor health and safety at work has led to people denied these pleasures for the rest of their lives. At Cardinus we believe health and safety supports fun and adventure.
Virgin Atlantic even makes the safety briefing sexy!
The unfortunate consequence of the stories written by that room full of journalists is that they undermine some of the impressive benefits a well-managed health and safety programme can bring. Companies with a positive attitude to health and safety tend to have a highly motivated workforce and they are more likely to be healthier. Health, motivation and positivity contribute enormously to fun and adventure.
Every good executive will tell you that they also contribute enormously to profit.
A comfortable employee will be much more productive that one who is in pain or fatigued. They will make fewer mistakes and take less sickness absence. Ergonomics can not only avoid costly injuries and court cases, but also can increase productivity and add real shareholder value. The same arguments can be made for good occupational road risk, manual handling, environmental programmes, too. In today’s financial climate safe, healthy, comfortable employees could be the difference between a positive balance sheet and a negative one.
The real opposite of ‘fun’ and ‘adventure’
Injury, discomfort and ill health are the true enemies of freedom and enjoyment, and we do see evidence of this kind of suffering in the workplace. It’s the goal of health and safety professionals like Cardinus to minimise or remove these risks.
There are, unfortunately, many risks associated with computer use, including work-related upper limb disorders (WRULDs) and musculoskeletal injuries.
WRULDs are soft tissue injuries that affect the muscles, tendons and nerves of the hands, arms, shoulders and neck. Musculoskeletal injuries are disorders of the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles and other soft tissues of the body. The disorders may develop over time as the result of cumulative repetitive stress or awkward movements that wear down the musculoskeletal system.
These conditions are not new. Throughout history a variety of conditions have been associated with occupations that require long bouts of repetitive movements. Some are well known: tennis elbow and writer’s cramp, for example. But what about housemaid’s knee, trigger finger and dog handler’s elbow? These conditions still affect today’s workplaces.
The same technology that helps us to work more efficiently, smarter and more quickly is to blame. When we used old-fashioned typewriters, we took regular micro-breaks to return the carriage every few seconds. This relieved the strain of repetition just enough, but the action has disappeared thanks to computers.
Telephones gave us the ability to communicate without walking to our colleagues in the next room or just across the floor; email has exacerbated this. Nowadays instant messaging means we don’t even have to speak to our colleagues on the next desk. The result is an increase in discomfort and a greater risk of ergonomic injuries.
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.