There are two ways to handle employee injuries: 1) prevent them from happening, and 2) eliminate potential for future injury if there is an injury. Ergonomics is the practice of designing and making changes to jobs to help people work more safely and efficiently. We do this by looking at everything that touches or affects a worker, allowing us to determine the impact on workers.  

When ergonomic solutions are properly implemented, exposures/risks, are eliminated, which helps reduce injuries and lowers worker compensation costs. Productivity and quality also increase when you can eliminate unnecessary steps and decrease potential errors in the production process. Another bonus is that worker morale improves because you’re taking a vested interest in their well-being.  Ergonomics can provide a variety of valuable services and resources, including:

• Workplace ergonomic risk assessments across all types of businesses, including manufacturing, healthcare, food service, construction, schools, social service, and transportation/trucking.

• Partnering with your safety, kaizen, and management teams to identify and solve ergonomic issues.

• Providing customized training programs to help your team recognize ergonomic risk and develop solutions for mitigation.

• Availability as a resource to answer your questions and concerns.

• Identifying transitional work and/or insuring that existing work restrictions are not exceeded.

Employers panic when they hear the word ergonomics because they associate it with high cost. However, implementing an ergonomic solution does not always mean capital investment. Many solutions are easy, common-sense changes and do not carry huge price tags.  Here are some examples of ergonomic solutions that translated into fewer injuries and a healthier bottom line without a major investment.

• Serious back injury caused by employee lifting laundry from a cart. Cost of injury = $5,500. Employer prevented future claims by adding spring-loaded bottoms to laundry carts so employees avoid bending and reaching. Cost = $100 per cart.

• Employee injury from repeated loading and removing of linens from front-loading washer and dryer. Cost of injury = $730. Employer had maintenance staff build a wooden platform to raise units. Cost  = $200.

• Employee shoulder injury from tossing heavy garbage bags into a high dumpster. Potential cost of injury = $70,000.  Employer replaced the tall dumpster with a shorter dumpster. Cost difference = <$100/month.

• Shoulder and back injury from lifting 60-pound part into CNC machine.  Potential cost of injury = $70,000-$100,000.  Employer purchased portable jib crane overhead lift . Cost = $6,000.

Let’s connect and work together to do the same for your business. You’ll see the difference. It’s simply good business to keep workers pain free and on the job.

Ergonomic investigation of injury uses research-based ergonomic tools and epidemiologic literature to determine if mechanism of injury was present and could have contributed to the reported injury/illness. Most of the time, video of the claimant performing the job accompanies the report. This detailed objective report can be used in several ways:

• To investigate a specific injury that doesn't make sense to the employer or worker compensation claims rep given the accident investigation, current physical job demands, or physical work environment. 

• To assist the physician (either treating or independent medical evaluation) in determination of injury causation in a worker compensation claim.

• To assist the attorney in defense of litigated cases.

• To get at the root cause of an injury and work with the employer to prevent it from happening in the future.

There have even been times when the investigation process assisted with getting the claimant a correct diagnosis and treatment. If the claim is disputed in court, I am able to testify regarding my findings. However, these reports provide so much objective information for the physician and attorney that they are a great tool in helping to avoid litigation. Contact me with questions on your next injury claim.

The traditional office keeps changing, and using a cookie-cutter approach for equipment, layout, and positioning is not the answer. Just as the needs and demands of business keep changing, so do the expectations and needs of the worker. The goal is to keep a good balance between the two. Ergonomics does this by sticking to foundational principles while keeping flexibility and creativity to deal with existing spaces and equipment. 

Sometimes that involves a budget for new technology and better equipment, and sometimes it doesn’t. I take a very functional approach to office ergonomics, taking current space, equipment, and work organization into account. Whether you need help with one office workspace, an entire department, or remote employees, let me work with you to provide easy and cost-effective solutions for your business.

Job physical demands reports provide a detailed account of the essential job functions. These reports are comprehensive, job specific, and go far beyond a typical job description summary. It’s a great communication tool for:

• The hiring process to let the applicant know exactly what physical job requirements are on a daily basis.

• Communication with a doctor letting them know the elements and exposures of the job.

• Communication with a doctor when dealing with return to work.

• Communication with a worker compensation claims rep to provide details that allow better understanding of the claimed injury.

• Communication with therapy for an understanding of what the worker needs to return to.

• Communication with therapy for development of post-offer physicals.

• Documentation of essential job functions for any ADA issues.

Let’s connect and discuss how to make the job physical demands reports a part of a comprehensive human resources, safety management program.

In order to avoid ergonomic injuries, we have to understand how they may occur. What are the risk factors and why? Ergonomic education and training can empower us when used as part of a comprehensive safety and wellness program. Regardless of the type of business, the group of workers, or the management structure, education and training can have an impact. 

All of the training developed by Ergo Insite is customized to your exact business needs, to answer your specific questions. Materials are developed to fit the level of training and target the group of employees involved. Contact me to discuss the education and training I can provide to augment your safety/wellness program.