Ergonomics Education

1. Ergonomics Education For Injury Reduction

2. Goals: • Define ergonomics and its benefits • Identify work activities that can lead to injury • List examples of ergonomic principles that reduce risk of injury • Participate in your company’s ergonomic efforts • Identify parts of the body that get injured at work • Recognize and report signs and symptoms of injury early

3. Definitions • Work-related: caused, aggravated, exacerbated by work place exposures (WHO, 1985) • WMSD: A acronym for disorders and diseases of the musculoskeletal system… tendon, muscle, nerve, & joints (Hagberg, 1995)

4. Definition of ergonomics • Ergonomics means “fitting the job to the worker” “Ergonomics is the science and practice of designing jobs and workplaces to match the capabilities and limitations of the human body.”

5. Ergonomics @ Work Cart reduces risk of injury Risk of injury - Heavy lifting

6. Benefits of ergonomics • Ergonomics helps to prevent injuries • Ergonomics has other benefits • Improved quality of work • Improved quality of life • Reduced fatigue and discomfort

7. Injuries and risk factors

8. Injuries and Risk Factors In this section: • What are Work-related Musculo Skeletal Disorders (WMSDs)? • Common types and symptoms of injury • Causes and prevention of injury

9. Work-related Musculo Skeletal Disorders (WMSDs)? • Also known as: • Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs) • Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs) • Overuse injuries • Soft tissue injuries • Usually develop gradually, but sometimes can appear suddenly • Can be serious, if not taken care of early

10. Discomfort Pain Numbness Tingling What are some of the symptoms of WMSDs? • Burning Sensation • Swelling • Change in color • Tightness, loss of flexibility

11. Reporting In the Workplace • Overall, research found that • 22% of all office workers reported pain to the workplace • Among those workers with pain (599), 362 (the majority) did not report pain to the workplace • So there is a threshold for reporting pain. • Of the 362 with pain in the last year: • Most did not give a reason • 85 did not report because symptoms were mild or not considered a problem (Hogg-Johnson et al., in preparation)

12. What causes WMSDs? Risk Factors • Awkward Postures • High Hand Force • Repetitive Motions • Repeated Impacts • Heavy, Frequent, or Awkward Lifting • Moderate to High Hand-Arm Vibration

13. Risk Factors Risk of injury depends upon: • Duration (how long) • Frequency (how often) • Intensity (how much) • Combinations of risk factors

14. Risk Factors Duration • usually need hours of exposure before risk factors become a concern • Can be all at one time or cumulative over the day

15. Focus on our Core What's the spine for anyway? • Primary stabilizer of the body • Shock absorber • Increases agility and range of motion • Protects the spinal cord

16. Causes of Back injuries • Trauma • Any outside force to the body causing injury such as a car accident or fall incident • Overuse • The body is not designed to perform the same motion over and over for an extended period of time so muscles and tendons can get irritated and ligaments can break down • Postural dysfunction • adaptive changes in muscle length ( too short or too long) decrease its ability to function properly • Creates joint compression leading to cartilage and disc breakdown

17. Some Numbers • In an office setting, (Polanyi et al., 1997): • 60% of workers reported having neck or upper limb pain over the past year • In an auto parts manufacturing company, (Wells et al., 2000): • 80% of workers reporting some musculoskeletal (MSK) pain (includes back and legs as well) over the past year

18. Risk factors for WMSDs Awkward postures

19. Head level Shoulders relaxed Elbows at sides Low back supported Wrists straight Feet supported Neutral postures Standing neutral posture Seated neutral posture

20. Posture and Spinal Pressure Very Bad – Posture & Force Great! Resting on Back

21. Hands over head or elbows above shoulders For more than 2 hours per day

22. Neck bent more than 30° For more than 2 hours per day

23. Back bent more than 30° For more than 2 hours per day

24. Squatting For more than 2 hours per day

25. Kneeling For more than 2 hours per day

26. Wrists bent Extension Ulnar deviation Flexion

27. Reducing awkward postures • Change workstation heights & display heights • Tilt or rotate the work • Use platforms • Bring items within easy reach • Pause to stretch

28. Reducing awkward postures Case Study

29. The Key to Good posture • Standing • Neutral head position • Shoulders and spine square over the hips • Hips square over the feet • Non-heeled shoes • Sitting • Feet flat on the floor • Hips and spine at a 90° angle • Spine supported against the back rest

30. Risk factors for WMSDs Heavy, frequent or awkward lifting

31. Heavy lifting • Lifting 75 lbs. once per day • Lifting 55 lbs. more than 10 times per day

32. Reducing heavy lifting • Take smaller loads at one time • Use mechanical assistance - handtrucks, carts, hoists, conveyors • Get help from a co-worker

33. Frequent lifting • Lifting more than 10 lbs., more than twice per minute, for more than 2 hours per day

34. Reducing frequent lifting • Use mechanical assistance • Slide objects instead of lifting them • Rotate lifting tasks with co-workers if possible

35. Awkward lifting • Lifting more than 25 lbs. above the shoulders, below the knees or at arms’ length more than 25 times per day

36. Reducing awkward lifts • Store items where you won’t have to bend or reach to lift them • Use rolling stairs to get items down from high shelves

37. Oliver-Tolas Observations • Poor standing and sitting posture • Work stations too high and too low • Poor body mechanics • Bending from the back and over reaching • Leaning on one leg • Lifting and twisting

38. Lifting positions • Squat • Generally used for heavy lifting • Staggered • Generally used for heavy lifting as an alternative to the squat position • Golfers lift • Named after the technique golfers used to pick up their tee’s. Used for very light objects

39. Safer Lifting Keep your spine in a neutral position by contracting your abdominals Exhale on the way up when lifting extremely heavy objects The closer you hold the object to you, the less strain it will place on your spine Always lift from the legs…never from your back No leg muscles used! Far from Torso

40. What you can do: • Recognize and report symptoms early. • Get involved in ergonomics

41. Symptom recognition and reporting • Report symptoms if: • Pain is persistent, severe or worsening • Pain radiates • Symptoms include numbness or tingling • Symptoms keep you from sleeping at night

42. Why is it important to report symptoms early? • Chronic injuries sometimes lead to disability, even surgery • The earlier treatment is rendered the more successful it can be in preventing lifelong problems

43. Getting involved • Look at jobs and help identify problems • Come up with solutions • Work with solutions • Take part in training • Take responsibility for changing the way you do your job • Help to make sure efforts are successful

44. …You can play an important part • You may be asked to participate in: • Analyzing caution zone jobs for hazards • Finding solutions to these hazards • Evaluating the success of the solutions • Later, you may… • be given job specific training on proper use of solutions • keep in touch with ergonomics efforts through the safety committee or at safety meetings.

45. Key points to remember • Ergonomics can help you on your job • Risk factors can be reduced and WMSDs prevented • You can help your company put ergonomics changes into place • WMSDs can happen in jobs with risk factors • Reporting symptoms early is important

46. Thank you Quiz Time!!