Desktop Ergonomics

August 31, 2011
The results suggest that reducing work hours for exercise or other health promotion doesn’t necessarily lead to decreased productivity—and may even lead to increased productivity. [read more...] 

August 1, 2011
The family of a budding computer programmer have on Saturday launched a campaign to raise awareness about the health risks of playing online computer games after their son died following a marathon session on his Xbox.

A post-mortem revealed that 20-year-old Chris Staniforth -- who was offered a place to study Game Design at Leicester University -- was killed by a pulmonary embolism, which can occur if someone sits in the same position for several hours. [read more...]

July 11, 2011
Adult obesity rates increased in 16 states in the past year and did not decline in any state, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Twelve states now have obesity rates above 30 percent. Four years ago, only one state was above 30 percent. [read more...]

July 9, 2011

Four students from Carmel Valley Middle School in San Diego entered the Christopher Columbus Awards Competition, a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program that challenges middle school students to identify a community problem and solve it using science and technology.

After experiencing firsthand the discomfort that computer use can cause, Sean Colford, Ethan Epstein, Brandon Loye, and Michael Walsh, decided to study improper posture at computer workstations and the consequent musculoskeletal problems among children and adults in classrooms and offices.
[read more...] 

June 22, 2011
Office workers who experience neck and shoulder pain may suffer from reduced productivity, higher health care costs and long-term absences from work. Researchers from Denmark suggest that encouraging short periods of exercise for office workers can help reduce neck and shoulder pain. [read more...]

June 13, 2011
OSHA has reopened the rulemaking record on its proposal to restore a column to the OSHA 300 log that employers would check if workers experienced a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD). The agency wants to receive comments on information gathered during small business teleconferences held in April.

The agency estimates that 1.5 million recordable MSDs are expected to occur annually. [read more]

On Jan. 25, 2011 OSHA announced that it has temporarily withdrawn its proposal to restore a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) on employer injury and illness logs, citing concerns from small businesses. Some safety stakeholders, however, expressed disappointment over the withdrawal.

The proposed rule would not change existing requirements about when and under what circumstances employers must record MSDs on their injury and illness logs. While many employers currently are required to keep a record of workplace injuries and illnesses, including work-related MSDs, the vast majority of small businesses are not required to keep such records. The proposed rule would require those employers already mandated to keep injury and illness records, and to record MSDs, to place a check mark in the new column for all MSDs. [read more...]

May 23, 2011
Microsoft has released a new mouse. Is it ergonomically superior to other mouse options... or just different?
http://mashable.com/2011/05/20/microsoft-arc-touch-mouse/



March 23, 2011
OSHA, in partnership with the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, announced a series of three teleconferences to reach out to the small business community for input on the agency’s proposal to add a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) on employer injury and illness logs.

This proposal would require those employers already mandated to keep injury and illness records to add the step of checking a column when recording work-related musculoskeletal disorders. [read more...]

March 2011

Drinking too much diet soda might be risky in the long run. [read more]

December 2010

You're in the market for a material handling product, something that can help your employees move those loads quickly and safely. You surf the Web and flip through catalogs, but how do you start to narrow your choices? The same way best-in-class manufacturers create innovative products — through research, testing and knowledge. [read more...]

October 18, 2010

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2005, sprain and strain injuries accounted for more than three-fourths of the MSD cases that resulted in days away from work. [read more...]

November 30, 2009

The Associated Press

DAKOTA CITY - Tyson Foods has been working with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union for more than 20 years to make the company's meatpacking plants safer.

Tyson and the union say they have been working since 1989 to apply ergonomic principles to slaughterhouses and meat-processing plants. The program has helped reduce injuries like strains and sprains at Tyson's plants.

Because of the program, Tyson has installed equipment like height-adjustable work stations, bought lighter-weight saws and lowered the height of the overhead chains and conveyors.

The lessons learned in the ergonomics program were used in the design of an addition to Tyson's Dakota City plant that was built in 2006.

February 19, 2009
The estimated direct U.S. workers compensation costs for the most disabling workplace injuries and illnesses in 2006 were $48.6 billion, according to the 2008 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index.

[9. The repetitive motion category dropped to ninth rank this year (from seventh place in 2005). This category, which has had the most significant drops of any category over the 9 years of Index reporting, captured 4 percent of the total injury burden and cost industry $2 billion in 2006 (as compared to 1998 when repetitive motion was ranked fifth and comprised 6.3 percent of the total U.S. injury burden). ]

Produced annually, the Workplace Safety Index identifies the leading causes of the most disabling U.S. workplace injuries based on data reported from 1998 (the baseline year for Workplace Safety Index data) through the most recent year for which data are available – in this case 2006. The 2008 Index also captures cost trends for the overall and leading causes of the most disabling injuries from 1998 through 2006, with “most disabling” defined as those injuries that cause an employee to miss six or more days from work.

[read entire article...]

February 4, 2009

"Ergonomic guidelines are not always followed correctly because some companies believe that following them will either slow down operators or will cost too much to implement. “Unfortunately, [those types of companies don’t] always understand the potential benefit of following the guidelines,” says Thomas Waters, Ph.D., chief engineer of human factors and ergonomics research at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH, Washington, DC). “Often, someone needs to show them that following guidelines will be cost-effective before they will implement a change.”

[read entire article]

January 22, 2009

Michigan’s proposal for a mandatory ergonomics standard survived a death blow from business groups in 2006. In January 2009, it’s back on track, and could be in force this year. 

The state's regulators voted unanimously to advance it on January 14, despite opposition from the business community. Its supporters maintain the rule will reduce preventable injuries that cost employers millions in worker's compensation and lost time. Opponents argue it will raise the cost of doing business at a time many employers are struggling because of the state’s ailing economy. 

They prevailed in 2006. Michigan lawmakers passed a bill to prevent the state from adopting the rule in 2006. 

The unanimous vote by the General Industry Safety Standards Commission and the Occupational Health Standards Commission increases the odds that efforts to derail the standard won’t succeed this time round. 

[read more...]

December 2008

Discussing the future of OSHA and potential changes to the safety industry in general under Barack Obama during a Dec. 9 webinar sponsored by the American Society of Safety Engineers, former NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard and former OSHA Assistant Secretary of Labor John Henshaw agreed that a return to a federal ergonomics standard similar to the one promulgated during the Clinton era was "unlikely."

"We need to do more to educate employers and workers on ergonomics," said Howard, who also is the former head of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.  [read more...]

November 2008
In the wake of Barack Obama’s election, U.S. industry should brace itself for a re-emphasis on ergonomics in the workplace.  We are about to enter the era of “Ergobamanomics,” predicts senior editor Austin Weber, coining the phrase in his November 6 post on AssemblyBlog, a function of Assembly magazine which serves the manufacturing product assembly market.

[read more...]

Among the membership's top OSHA-specific public policy issues are: a combustible dust standard, ergonomics standard, cranes and derricks standard, silica standard, and indoor air quality. [read more...]