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Office Safety: Everyday Ergonomics

Posted by Joshua Fleishman on Wed, Aug 21, 2013 @ 11:45 AM

Today's blog article comes with a great infographic to sum up its information. Courtesy of the Editors at Best Choice Reviews. They write great articles on a multitude of subjects from fitness to personal shopping to electronics/technology. Check them out!

Anyways, today's subject will be "Everyday Ergonomics." Thank you again Best Choice Reviews for providing this information!

Everyday Ergonomics

Ergonomics is the science of efficient work. Use our guide to promote health and focus at home, on the road, and in the office.

Commuting
The average commute is 25.5 minutes, or 51 minutes a day. And 8.1% of Americans commute for an hour or more both ways.[1] That’s a long time to mistreat your back and neck.

Train or bus?[5]
Essentials:

  • Loose clothes
  • Comfortable shoes
  • Feet flat
  • Use railing to balance

Car?[4]
Essentials:

  • Base of your spine touching back of the seat.
  • Rolled towel, or some form of support filling the gap between mid rib cage area and seat
  • Don’t slump
  • Lift your back up
  • Adjust headrest and tilt head back onto it
  • It takes time to adjust to sitting correctly. With practice it will feel comfortable.

Back pain is the second most common reason for missed work. Don’t ruin your day before it starts.[9]

Work
Workplace health is a marathon, not a sprint. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t an “industrial athlete.” Let us coach you into the right place.

Work-space: [7][6][10]

  • Monitor 15 degrees above eye level horizon is easiest on eyes and neck.
  • Tilt monitor back slightly.
  • Feet flat on floor.
  • Lower back supported.
  • Monitor one arms’ length away.
  • Forearms and hands in straight line.
  • Should be comfortable to look at the center of the screen for prolonged periods.
  • Lighting should only be as bright as the room’s lighting.
  • Avoid glare from the sun.

Habits:[8]

  • Get up and walk/ stretch at least once an hour.
  • Talk to colleagues in person instead of sending intra-office emails.
  • Take the stairs.
  • Hold “walking meetings.”
  • Walk to a farther bathroom.

The Average worker spends 5 hours 41 minutes sitting at work. Leading to higher rate of sedentary lifestyle, decreased mental stability, and increased muskulo-skeletal problems.[11]
Almost 60% of work related injuries can be avoided with proper ergonomics. Why risk it?[9]

Luggage 

  • Push, don’t pull rolling bags.
  • Use bags with two straps to spread weight equally across body.
  • Choose longer straps when using single strap bags and drape across body on the opposite shoulder.
  • Only carry what you need.

Manual Labor [3]

  • Use knee pads for prolonged kneeling
  • Mix up repetitive actions
  • Store heavy items within reach (see “work zone”)

Core concepts

In 1700 Ramazzini, a Paduan professor of medicine, outlined the importance of neutral posture and the “work zone” in maintaining muskulo-skeletal health. [12]
We’ve known about ergonomics for hundreds of years. It’s up to you to change.

The Neutral Posture [2]
The position where each joint is resting. Least tension on nerves, muscles, tendons, and bones.
Often seen in astronauts under conditions of weightlessness.

Fingers: gently curved, not spread apart.
Wrists: in line with forearm
Forearms: With thumb up.
Elbows: Bent from 90-110 degrees. Close to torso.
Upper Arms: hangs straight down
Shoulders: resting. not up, down, forward, or back.
Neck: balanced on the spinal column.
Spine: an ‘s’ shape. Upper region bends out. Lower region gently bends in.
Lower body: hip and knee joints slightly bent.

The greater the deviation from the neutral posture, the greater the risk of injury and discomfort.
Cumulative trauma disorders develop over weeks, months, or years from the repeated stress on a particular body part. Start changing your habits now.
Repetitive motion disorders are muscular ailments.
Examples: Carpel Tunnel Syndrome, Dequervain’s Disease,Tendinitis, Trigger Finger

The “work zone” [3]
The best work zone:

  • Never do heavy lifting outside of it.
  • As far forward as your wrist with arms slightly bent.
  • As wide as your shoulders.
  • Upper level at about heart height.
  • Lower level at about waist height.

The “ok” work zone:

  • As far forward as your hand with arm outstretched.
  • A foot to either side of shoulders.
  • Upper level at shoulder height.
  • Lower level at fingertips when arms relaxed at sides.

If you could make the choice to live without pain. Wouldn’t you make the choice everyday?

Citations

  1. http://www.census.gov/hhes/commuting/files/2012/ACS-20.pdf
  2. http://www.oehc.uchc.edu/ergo_neutralposture.asp
  3. https://www.osha.gov/ergonomics/guidelines/retailgrocery/retailgrocery.html#stocking
  4. http://www.wikihow.com/Sit-in-a-Car-Without-Back-Pain
  5. http://www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk/gfx/uploads/member%20area/Posture%20sheets/Mind%20your%20posture%20-%20commuting.pdf
  6. http://ergocanada.com/ergo/monitors/monitor_height_guidelines.html
  7. http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/sr/dohs/Documents/ORS_Ergonomics_Poster_Rd5.pdf
  8. http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisongriswold/2012/06/12/to-work-better-just-get-up-from-your-desk/
  9. http://www.nclabor.com/osha/etta/A_to_Z_Topics/ergo.pdf
  10. http://www.gatoroffice.com/monitor_ergonomics.htm
  11. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120113210203.htm
  12. http://ergonomenon.com/ergonomics-articles/bernardino-ramazzini-the-first-ergonomist-and-what-have-we-learned-from-him/

Tags: safe work environment, general safety tips, office safety, general office safety, ergonomics, workplace safety, osha general industry training

Breaking it down | Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA)

Posted by Joshua Fleishman on Tue, Apr 23, 2013 @ 10:00 AM

The OSH Act (That created OSHA) was passed over 40 years ago in order to protect America’s workers. Since then, great progress towards keeping America’s workers safe has been made. However, more work must still be done as we still have the statistics, almost daily, about serious injuries and/or fatalities.

In 2010 alone, over 4,600 workers were killed and 3.8 million workers reported injuries (and think about how many DIDN’T report). That makes an average of almost 13 injuries per day!

So a return to a previous idea of updating OSH Act in the form of a bill, Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA), with the intent to expand & strengthen workplace safety laws. PAWA was introduced a few different ways before in several congressional sessions, but never passed.

What is PAWA? Well it looks to update/amend OSHA to cover more workers, update penalties, strengthen protections, enhance public accountability, clarify an employer's duty to provide safe work environment. What does it entail? Let’s take a look at what PAWA aims to do:

Cover more workers
  • Over 8.5 million workers are not covered by OSHA. This includes federal, state, local public employees and some private sector.
  • PAWA would include flight attendants, state correctional officers and workers in government agencies and provides OSHA protections to these workers.
Beavis & Butthead - Breaking the LawIncrease penalties for law-breakers
  • Current law says willful OSHA violations that lead to a worker's death may be charged, at most, with a misdemeanor.
  • Repeated and willful OSHA violations that result in serious injury or death can be charged as felony.
  • Updates OSHA civil penalties (unchanged since 1990). Sets minimum penalty of $50,000 for worker death caused by a willful violation.
Protects whistle-blowers on unsafe conditions in the workplace
  • OSHA's whistleblower provisions have had no update since adoption...in 1970.
  • Updates those whistleblower protections by incorporating successful administrative procedures adopted in other laws (like the Surface Transportation Act).
Enhances the public's right to know about safety violations
  • Improves public accountability and transparency.
    • Mandates Department of Labor (DOL) investigates all cases of death or serious incidents of injury at work.
  • Gives workers (and their families) the right to meet with DOL investigators.
  • Requires employers to inform workers of their OSHA rights.
Clarifies employer's duty to provide a safe work environment, equipment and track recordable injuries/illnesses for all workers on-Caution - Recordable Injury Signsite
  • Amends the General Duty Clause to include all workers on the worksite.
  • Clarifies employer responsibility to provide the necessary safety equipment to their workers (example: PPE).
  • Directs DOL to revise regulations  for site-controlling employers to keep a site log for all recordable injuries and illnesses among all employees on the worksite.

That about wraps up PAWA and its goals. Think for a moment about these questions and then comment what you think in the box below!
  • Does this frame of mind have merit
  • Do you think this should be passed
  • As an employee, do you feel this is headed in the right direction? 
  • As an employer, do you feel this is headed in the right direction? 
No matter what side of the fence you are on, how can workplace safety training companies continue to assist employees & employers while its being negotiated?
 
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Tags: PAWA, OSHA, safe work environment, safety training, protecting america's workers, workplace safety