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In This Edition It is interesting to read what is news worthy. Scanning on-line newspapers reveals many issues, but often it is the angle chosen to tackle an issue that intrigues me. ‘No Cookies at Faculty Meetings’ to illustrate hard times at Harvard University is in my top ten. Doesn’t Harvard have a multi-billion dollar endowment? Workplace health and safety, disability and other occupational health-related issues are creeping back into the U.S. news. This may be fueled by the national health care debate here in the U.S., but these issues have a life and tone of their own. An October 9th article in the New York Times; Disabled Workers; Employer Fears Are Groundless encompassed all these occupational health issues. The subtitle sums up the article; “Studies show that hiring the disabled does not lead to higher accommodation costs, worker comp, or sick leave, yet these myths persist.” This is great news – and likely long known information for most professionals in this field. We, the occupational health professionals, need to trumpet this fact. Employers need to understand that fitting the job to the worker or accommodating the worker is not an expensive venture - but rather a cost-effective venture. Many management books promote having the best talent to be the best company – this seems pretty obvious. (Read Good to Great for a prime example of the need for a great team in any workplace.) Talent is not defined by the person’s physical size or physical ability or mental ability. Constraining your talent pool by limiting it to employees that are strong or large or any other singular demographic, makes it harder to find people who can the job well. It makes it harder to have the best talent. This is not new. Neither is the fact that accommodation does not have to be expensive. We did a study and found that more than 50% of ergonomics-related issues were resolved for less than $1000. We can and need to break the myth that ergonomics and accommodation are expensive. If done well, this need not be the case.
On September 25, 2009, Jordan Barab, Acting Assistant Secretary for OSHA addressed the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO for their Health and Safety Conference Day. He emphasized the need to move beyond traditional ways of measuring progress and instead focus on things that are hard to measure but make a substantial impact on the work environment such as work hours, fatigue and health & safety programs.
“We need allies in the progressive business community who will stand alongside America's labor unions and declare 'Yes we can' and 'Yes we will,' because we know that America draws its economic strength from a healthy and safe workforce," stated Barab.
He continues to state that “soon we must confront the 60,000-pound elephant in the room: Ergonomics. Let's acknowledge a couple of obvious things about "ergo." First, it's a huge health and safety problem, recognized by strong science. Second, it's a huge political football that some very big players don't want to see on the field. Well, for the sake of our working men and women, we have to take the field and make some fundamental changes in America's workplaces.
OSHA and its sister agency, NIOSH, can't manage this transformation alone. We need allies in the labor and environmental movements, and allies among students, scientists and sociologists.”
OSHA Still Issuing Ergonomics-Related Citations
While the Federal OSHA Ergonomics Standard was repealed in 2001 and the Agency was barred from issuing a similar rule in the future, it has issued 19 General Duty Clause citations for ergonomics-related issues since 2002. Patrick Kapust with OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs explained this to a large audience at the 2009 American Society of Safety Engineer’s Annual Conference.
Formed on February 26, 2004, OSHA developed an Alliance with NTSP to focus on providing the telecommunications industry with information, guidance, and access to training resources to help them protect employee’s health and safety by addressing ergonomics issues. In 2009, OSHA continues to maintain and update it Alliance web page on the Agency’s web site. Through the Alliance, NTSP developed an Office Lighting Fact Sheet to help companies and individuals identify and correct the ergonomic or safety and health aspects of office lighting.
They also developed ergonomics guidelines for common job functions in the telecommunications industry.
Hidden Home Office Workstation Hazards
Beyond the basics of setting up your workstation so that you can work in neutral postures and minimize static positions (e.g., sitting too long, gripping you mouse, etc.), there are some safety hazards that you should consider for your home office. Take a close look at your equipment cables and wires to avoid slips, trips or falls. Keep electronics away from kids, pets and unwanted pets (rodents) due to risk of electric shock and strangulation. Plan ahead and make some simple and quick modification to you’re your home office safe for you and those around you. http://ehstoday.com/construction/ehs_imp_78865/?cid=popular
How much time each week do you spend attending to office ergonomics issues?
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November 18, 2009 (Wednesday) at 12:00 PM CST – Tired of spending so much time fixing office ergonomics problems? Want to make Office Ergonomics so much easier and more effective? This is your opportunity to see what our ergonomists have created to streamline office ergonomics. We’ve put our 20+ years of experience into this state-of-the-art software that enables 100% of your office workstations to be evaluated each year, for just a few dollars per person. You do not want to miss this enlightening webinar. Click here to register.
December 3, 2009 (Thursday) at 1:00 PM CDT – Finally! Discover a quick, easy to use and objective process that develops job rotation schedules based on ergonomics risk factors of the tasks. Take it to the next level and identify tasks that safely get your injured workers back to work in no time. You employees will like it! Your management staff will be delighted by it! And your medical staff will be thrilled with it! Find out more about it. Click here to register.
December 16, 2009 (Wednesday) at 1:00 PM CDT – See the technology that 100% of the Ergo Cup winners are using, exclusively from Auburn Engineers, Inc. A repeatable process means consistent results. Our clients have told us this is what sets our eTools Electronic Job Analysis and Evaluation software apart from the rest, and at a very reasonable cost. Find out what process these winners use in their ergonomics programs. Click here to register.
December 19, 2009 (Friday) at 12:00 PM CDT – Have you been looking for an easy to use source for ergonomic design criteria? Options to help your engineers make better or more consistent ergonomic design decisions? Then you’ll want to learn more about Design for Ergonomics (DF Ergo), a design tool that gives engineers ergonomics data: How much force? What level of repetition? What size? What is the ergonomics risk associated with their decisions. It provides design parameters that specify force and motions. It's the design tool that engineers and ergonomists have been demanding. Click here to register for an opportunity to see this state-of-the-art software.
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