Tag: ergonomics

Office safety and ergonomics

Tips for an Ergonomic Workstation

Many of us spend hours at our workstations every day, and with many of us working from home because of COVID-19, the ergonomic issues have come home with us. Bad habits and incorrect posture can lead to neck and back pain or sore wrists and fingers. Proper ergonomics can help you and your employees stay […]

Carpal tunnel

Without an OSHA Ergonomics Standard, How Should You Address the Issue?

An employee of a California school district recently wrote to experts at Safety.BLR.com®, asking how ergonomic issues in the workplace can be addressed when no ergonomics standard from OSHA exists. It’s a good question—and while there is no standard, there are resources available. See what the experts had to say on the matter.

Health care, gloves, hospital, pharmacy

NIOSH Investigates Hospital, Ergonomic, and Opioid Hazards

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) fielded 221 requests for Health Hazard Evaluations (HHEs) in 2018, according to a recently released annual report. The 34 HHE reports published last year examined hazards ranging from hospital disinfectants and repetitive pharmacy tasks to emergency responders’ exposure to opioids.

Office safety and ergonomics

Four Steps for Improving Workplace Ergonomics

It’s no secret that ergonomics programs often struggle to make an impact. All too often, they start off with a flurry of training and assessments and then fizzle out when people realize that there’s more talking about ergonomics than implementing ergonomics improvements. The ergonomics program starts to feel like more cost than benefit to management, […]

Office safety and ergonomics

Ways to Improve Your Office Safety

Although office and administrative work is largely considered low risk, that shouldn’t make office safety any less of a priority. Office workers can still be exposed to preventable hazards that could cause an injury or illness. Workplace injuries and illnesses can have many negative repercussions, including disrupting daily operations, reducing employee morale and increasing costs […]

First responders

NIOSH: Firefighters, EMTs Face Major Ergonomics Concerns

Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and firefighters experience musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) at five times the rate of most workers, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said in a summary of research priorities for the public safety sector.

Back pain ergonomics

What to Do if Your Chair Hurts Your Back

It’s one of the most common ergonomic injuries—back pain. A lot of the blame is falling on how chair design has evolved over the years. Even if you can’t do anything about the chair you sit in at work, here are a few tips and tricks for minimizing the risk of discomfort and possible injury.

Using Early Symptom Intervention to Reduce MSD Injuries

At a recent CONN-OSHA Breakfast Roundtable Discussion Group, David Hoyle, PT, MA, OCS, MTC, CEAS, the national director of Select Medical’s WorkStrategies Program, discussed early symptom intervention as a method of preventing injuries and reducing OSHA recording and reporting of musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) injuries and illnesses in the workplace.

Sedentary lifestyle causing back pain

The Challenges of Addressing Sedentary Work and Illness

As technology advances, the number of people performing sedentary work as well as the amount of sedentary work performed per person increases. Too much sedentary work can have serious adverse health effects, including obesity, musculoskeletal pain, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, particularly if it is combined with sedentary leisure. This is not new information, […]