WHAT IS ERGONOMICS?
Ergonomics, which encompasses both the physical environment and workplace environment, is the study of people in their working environment. The work environment is the general layout of the workplace, including the lighting, heating, and flooring, as opposed to the physical environment, which includes the tools or equipment an employee uses on a daily basis.
If a worker is forced to adjust to a setting that may not be appropriate for their physical needs and limitations, ergonomics entails changing the environment to suit their needs.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF ERGONOMICS?
Different types of Ergonomics are:
Physical ergonomics:
focuses on how the body reacts to physiological and physical stress, repeated motion, and poor posture can lead to strain and sprain.
Cognitive ergonomics:
relates to a worker’s capacity and emotional state while they are at work. Increased workload can lead to decreased concentration, which can lead to human error. Workload influences the decision-making process of the person.
Organizational ergonomics:
discusses the workplace, the workday, management, collaboration, ethics, and policies.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF GOOD ERGONOMICS?
The benefits of a good ergonomic environment are:
Reduce costs
Postural strain on workers can cause illnesses that can be expensive to treat. Employing excellent ergonomics can lower costs for the business, including those related to lost productivity and workers’ compensation.
Improves productivity
Employees who are in pain cannot concentrate on their job. A productive work environment can be enhanced by a comfortable workstation and excellent posture. More suffering results in less output. Employees are happier when their workstations are made up properly. Good posture is facilitated by a comfortable work environment, which in turn boosts output.
Improves quality
A labourer who has poor posture at work may feel uncomfortable. Frustration and low productivity can come from a poorly planned work environment.
Improve employee engagement
When a positive work environment is provided, workers feel at ease, healthy, and safe, which boosts their morale and increases employee engagement.
Create a better safety culture
The most important resource is having healthy employees. The aforementioned ideas promote a safe atmosphere and work to improve employee performance.
WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF BAD ERGONOMICS?
The signs of poor ergonomics can be mistaken for those of other conditions, or they could be so minor as to go unnoticed. Poor ergonomics can significantly contribute to the emergence of a number of musculoskeletal diseases as well as other issues like:
- Neck pain
- Back pain
- Shoulder pain
- Arm pain
- Headaches
- Repetitive injury strains
- Carpal tunnel
- Diabetes
- Heart conditions
- Obesity
- Stroke
- Postural muscle aches and pains
ERGONOMIC ASSESSMENTS
To reduce the risk of workplace injuries, an ergonomic assessment measures various types of stresses on the muscles and bones. Modifications on how a task can be done without causing stress and pain are also included in the assessment. An ergonomic evaluation must take into account an employee’s posture, movement, temperature, and behaviours as well as the equipment they use, including computers, keyboards, and other machinery, as well as their working surroundings.
Detailed ergonomic assessments help:
to offer instruction so that employees can operate in a secure and healthy environment.
to guarantee that staff members are both productive and secure at work.
modifying the workplace to better suit each employee’s needs in order to decrease the risk of accidents and the organization’s overall health costs.
to lessen the exposure of a person to uncomfortable postures.
to lessen the possibility of workplace accidents.
increases worker effectiveness.
enhances connections between employees and employers at work.
An official report detailing all findings and suggestions is then given to the employer at the conclusion of an assessment.
The staff members receive training to make sure they apply the proper techniques and use them successfully at their workstations to enhance personal posture.
HOW TO PREVENT THE OCCURRENCE OF ERGONOMIC INJURIES?
Few preventive measures can be taken to prevent ergonomic injuries:
stretching or warm-up exercises before events
Take breaks for relaxation.
Put an end to the pain posture.
Recognize the early indications of discomfort and inflammation.
ERGONOMIC TRAINING PROGRAM
The ergonomic training programme is straightforward, useful, and affordable, and it is tailored to the needs of the workplace. For the benefit of each individual employee, suggestions are made for injury management and injury prevention.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT ERGONOMIC CONTROL METHODS?
by giving workers individually designed, comfortable, and appropriate workstations to set them up for more fruitful work.
Maintain body’s neutral position
Continue to hold your neck, back, and shoulders in an upright position.
Keep your elbows at 90 to 100 degrees and your underarms near to your body.
Keep your feet flat on the ground and your upper body fully supported, perhaps on a footrest.
Wrist in 15-degree neutral posture.
Physical Ergonomic
Reaching above the head/shoulders
Never spend more than two hours a day working with your hands overhead.
Never spend more than two hours a day working with your elbows above your shoulders.
Never spend more than two hours a day reaching above your head.
Keep things near at hand.
Raising work surfaces.
Eliminate barriers.
While working, use equipment to elevate and lower objects or to bring them closer.
Awkward body posture
Avoid spending more than two hours a day with your neck bent forward by more than 30 degrees.
more than two hours a day of squatting.
more than two hours a day spent kneeling.
Lift or tilt while working to improve access.
Employ equipment with longer handles.
Bending, kneeling, sitting, and squatting should be done in succession.
Awkward grips
Reduce the amount of things you carry at once and avoid carrying anything by hand.
Maintain non-pinch grip positions.
Use tools and equipment that are ergonomically designed.
Rotate your tasks.
Repetitive motions
Never use your hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, or neck for longer than two hours a day.
Plan your work to minimise movement.
Avoid performing repetitive tasks all at once; instead, take breaks.
Engage in stretches.
Frequently alter your hands or movements.
Localized pressure on the body part
Avoid pressing the body part against any edges that are hard or sharp.
Never stand or kneel for an extended period of time on a hard surface.
Avoid using tools with short handles or hard handle surfaces.
Spend no more than two hours per day using your hands or knees as a hammer.
Utilize equipment with padded grips and longer handles.
Use desktops or tables with rounded edges or padded table edges.
Use knee pads, shoe inserts, anti-fatigue mats, wrist rests, and other tools to ease the strain on your body.
Lifting objects
Aim to lift no more than 75 pounds per day.
Ten times per day, avoid 55 pounds.
Avoid 10 pounds for longer than two hours per day or more than twice per minute.
Steer clear of awkward, frequent, and heavy lifting.
Plan the lifts and keep lifting distances to a minimum.
Steer clear of manually raising or lowering loads to the floor.
Reduce or identify unstable or heavy burdens.
Limit the time spent lifting and the number of times you do it.
Use safe lifting procedures.
Modify tasks
Avoid gripping activities that are repeated and prolonged.
Avoid bending your wrist inward or outward, or wrist deviation.
Hold objects that are heavy close to your body, use your legs to lift the load, and lift it without twisting.
Take pauses.
Whenever necessary, seek assistance.
WHO CAN BE BENEFITED FROM ERGONOMIC TRAINING?
The risk factors vary based on the type of job as well. The ergonomic training programme can help workers, supervisors, engineers, managers, administrators, and helpers, among others. An office worker’s fingers, wrists, and arms, for instance, may suffer from improper mouse, keyboard, and chair placement. A factory worker, however, may be more prone to back and neck injuries because they frequently twist at the waist and lift heavy items.
