DJ Products, Inc.

With the 15th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition opening tomorrow in Las Vegas, this seems like a good time to promote the value of ergonomics to creating safe working conditions, safe work environments and saving businesses a considerable amount of money on their bottom line. ErgoExpo will focus on the role of workplace ergonomics in economic recovery with special educational tracks detailing return on investment, impact on America’s aging workforce, potential to reduce health care costs, and impact on improving workplace safety.

The application of ergonomics to workplace processes and equipment has been proven time and again to increase productivity and profitability while improving health, safety and morale. Implementing an ergonomic plan and utilizing ergonomic equipment in your place of business is a win-win proposition — for business owners and their employees.

• Ergonomic procedures eliminate painful movements that can stretch and pull muscles causing injury, particularly with repetition or over time.
• Utilizing ergonomically-designed material handling equipment eliminates the strain and risk of injury from transporting and positioning materials or equipment.
• Implementing an ergonomic program creates a safer environment in the workplace.
• Ergonomic equipment allows workers to stay on the job longer and take fewer and shorter breaks, increasing productivity.
• A safer work environment means fewer injuries and fewer lost man-hours, increasing worker productivity.
• Fewer injuries decrease direct medical and physical therapy costs as well as the expense of insurance and disability claims, improving your bottom line.
• When work is less physically taxing, workers are happier and workplace morale goes up.
• When injuries go down and morale goes up, absenteeism goes down and productivity goes up!

To find out more about ergonomically-designed material handling equipment, visit the DJ Products’ website today.

Frequency and duration are the two factors that have the greatest impact on ergonomic risk. In developing or reviewing your company’s ergonomic plan, pay particular attention to the frequency and duration of tasks that stress the musculoskeletal system. Reducing the frequency or duration of these tasks will significantly decrease the incidence and severity of musculoskeletal injuries in your workplace. When not addressed, the frequency and duration of tasks that strain workers’ musculature or skeletal system have been proven to significantly increase the risk and expense of long-term injury and loss of function.

It makes sense that the more frequently a worker is required to perform a pushing, pulling, lifting or carrying task that causes overexertion or strain, the greater the risk of musculoskeletal injury. In fact, the repetitive performance of a task over time takes a similar toll on the body, even when muscle strain is not involved. The longer a worker is required to perform a task — duration — also increases the risk of injury. Interestingly, researchers at the National Safety Council have found that the presence of multiple ergonomic risk factors — as few as two — has a multiplicative rather than an additive effect on the likely development of musculoskeletal injury.

The following actions have been found to effectively reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injury in the workplace:

• Decreasing the number of risk factors present in the workplace. Ergonomically-designed carts, tugs, scissor lifts and similar material handling equipment can be used to perform manual tasks that involve pushing, pulling, lifting and transporting, taking the burden off workers, reducing injury risk and improving productivity.
• Providing sufficient recovery time between task sessions. Providing rest breaks allows muscle recovery between work sessions. Rotating workers through a variety of tasks limits their risk exposure. But the most productive solution is utilization of ergonomic material handling equipment that enables repeated performance of a specialized task without injury risk.

In our last post we talked about how ergonomically designed material handling equipment improves worker health and safety by reducing expensive and potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injury. Business owners also realize measurable increases in worker productivity and product quality when ergonomic equipment and procedures are introduced into the workplace.

Most industrial equipment and work procedures were originally designed for occasional use, not the high-pressured, repetitive, long shifts found in the modern work place. By designing equipment that adjusts to the physical size and capabilities of each individual worker and by structuring work procedures to eliminate uncomfortable body positions during task performance, ergonomics decreases fatigue on muscles while increasing worker comfort. This enables workers to continue working comfortably without the frequent breaks they would otherwise need to stretch and rest tired muscles. Workers remain fresh and energized and can work comfortably through an entire shift. The result is decreased injury, better worker morale and increased worker productivity resulting in improved product quality. Ergonomics produces a win-win scenario for business owners and their employees.

Implementation of an effective ergonomic plan requires a three-pronged approach that involves engineering, administration and work practice modifications.

• Engineering modifications may include changes in equipment and tools used, workstation modifications and changes in the way tasks are performed. Because engineering modifications produce the greatest reduction or elimination of physical risk, they also result in the greatest cost savings. Reduced physical risk reduces the medical, insurance, disability and lost man-hour costs of potentially debilitating musculoskeletal injury. On its website, DJ Products provides an invaluable Ergonomic Load Calculator that can be used to estimate the force needed to move loads in a variety of workplace environments and recommend ergonomic solutions to your material handling problems.
• Administration modifications involve alterations to the work organization and/or workplace culture. While less expensive to implement, results are also less reliable in that they depend entirely on human compliance. Administrative modifications may include education and training in ergonomic procedures, restructuring job responsibilities to minimize repetitive tasks, worker/task rotation, increasing the frequency or duration of break periods for certain tasks, improving workers’ physical conditioning and developing oversight programs.
• Work practice modifications include the development of ergonomic procedures for the performance of each individual task, worker training and oversight.

The initial investment in ergonomics may seem to be considerable, but the benefits — and long-term savings — far outweigh the costs and continue long after the initial investment is recouped.

Monday: How ergonomics saves money