Ergonomics: What It Is, Why You Should Care and Who Can Help
By Erin Douglass
For decades, management simply folded workers into cookiecutter work environments. Freshfaced employees were wrangled in the door, shown the vacant desks, chairs and computers—or assembly line positions—left behind by previous worker bees and handed their 1099s.
But ergonomics flips this one-size-works-all approach on its head. The science of fitting the workplace to the worker, ergonomics acknowledges that no two workers are shaped the same way, lift a box the same way or cross their legs in the same manner. Just as you wouldn't ask every worker to wear size 10 boots, more and more employers are realizing that it's unwise—and sometimes even illegal—to sit these uniquely booted workers at identical workstations.
It's Not Just About Comfort
A brew of engineering, design, medical and physical therapy philosophies, ergonomics was born during World War II, when truth dawned that inventors of the latest, greatest military equipment weren't taking human operators into account. Since then, focus has shifted to civilian grapplings with new technologies. And awareness has slowly spread into the workplace, where muttering about aches and pains is hardly new.
It took the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which states, among other things, that employers must provide a hazardfree and healthy workplace, to force facilities managers and HR Directors into action. Failure to provide ergonomics solutions—specially designed furniture and tools, modified work environments and movements, or recommended stretches and habits—was no longer simply a soft issue of employee comfort. It meant hard realities such as noncompliance accusations, federal warnings—and lawsuits.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1998—the last year data was available—592,500 total musculoskeletal disorders involving time away from work were reported. In addition:
- the highest average number of days away from work that resulted from a major disabling injury was 24 days due to carpal tunnel syndrome, and
- repetitive stress injuries, or RSIs, resulted in the longest absences away from work—an average of 15 days.
It's often said, too, that RSIs are underreported, both because of employee unawareness and employer refusal to look the problem in the eye.
Ergonomics Programs—Some Got 'Em, Some Don't
A Safety in the Workplace survey conducted by HR Executive magazine in May of 2000 teased out truths about the state and place of ergonomics at work. Of 273 respondents, 49% said their organization has developed an ergonomics program. Most of the ergonomic fixes reported by these respondents included:
- wheeling in ergonomically correct desks and chairs (96%)
- snapping glare filters onto computer screens (90%)
- futzing with the height of work surfaces (87%), and
- boosting lighting (86%).
When asked whether they have expanded their company's health and safety programs over the last two years, 54% of respondents said yes—most often by offering additional training.
Who Ya Gonna Call? An Ergonomist
Companies that want help implementing an ergonomics program often hire ergonomics consulting firms. These firms, which typically avoid set fees or price lists because client needs vary so widely, assess office environments, light assembly plants and heavy manufacturing sites to recommend changes in everything from lighting and furniture to processes and tools.
Ergonomics consultants are busy. Whether it's because of skyrocketing workers' compensation costs, OSHA regulations or the sneaking suspicion that it's the right, proactive thing to do, more and more companies are tapping ergonomists for their savvy and solutions. According to ergonomics consultant Joanette Alpert of Woodward, Alpert & Associates in Southern California: "Companies are seeing the success stories in the media. They're getting the idea that paying attention to ergonomics will reduce costs and up productivity."
Ergonomics Sciences Corporation in Silicon Valley brings its message to the masses a different way, by operating "a toy store for ergonomics," as owner Steve Marshall describes his company's ergonomics lab. Visitors and staff alike can walk inside and try products such as chairs and desks on for size and free. That's often all it takes to convince workers that they need a change. And for bigger clients, Ergonomics Sciences will even establish an onsite showroom so that employee sniffing and testing can take place in person, close to their corporate homes.
Those who want to stay even closer to home can try online ergonomics training programs such as @Work Office Solutions from ErgoWeb in Utah. The assessment training software allows employees to report on their own desk posture and computer habits and quiz themselves on their ergonomics know how. In case you fret that employees may paint a rosier working habit picture than reality warrants, the program recommends that users take the assessment with a buddy for more honest reporting.