For one thing, ergonomic injuries are among the most expensive. Paying attention to ergonomics makes good business sense. First, when an ergonomic solution is found so that the work requires less effort and takes less time—if you can reduce time on the job, you're more productive.
The Cost of Ignoring Ergonomics
The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 867,766 cases of work-related strains, sprains, and back injuries in 2003, and the costs associated with these injuries continue to escalate. Depending on the severity of a particular injury, it is not uncommon for those who require corrective surgery to incur workers' compensation costs—medical, lost-time benefits, disability ratings, replacement workers, and potential litigation—that easily total $100,000 or more per injury. Only a few such costly injuries can have a severe impact on a small or medium-sized company's profitability and even affect its ability to remain in business.
Along with the employers' costs, affected workers also pay a price for ergonomic injuries. This cost ranges from losing a few days of normal activity to the loss of livelihood with the most severe injuries.
Now for the good news: it takes time to develop soft tissue injuries to muscles. It's not a one time incident but a build up of strain and a variety of tasks that can be the culprit. And that means that there is time to prevent these types of injuries by taking a proactive approach and examining work practices and analyzing risk factors before people get hurt.
Common Risk Factors and Solutions
One time injuries such as burns, lacerations, or falls are easier to diagnose and prevent because it's easier to see how to prevent them. Because well drilling is not repetitive, assembly-line type of work, preventing ergonomic injuries requires looking at some general factors. Are arms lifted over the head to pull drill bits down? Are workers in awkward postures, twisting and bending the torso? Are they holding unbalanced or fatiguing postures or simply remaining in a posture for a long time? Are they exerting with their small instead of large muscles? Are there sudden exertions like vibrations, jerks, or slams to the body? Are workers using forceful gripping or squeezing?
To address any of these problems requires your safety team to redesign the work practice so that it is not so difficult. And note that I said "redesign the work practice," not "redesign the worker." Look at the work, not the worker. Don't try to fix the problem by trying to make your workers more physically fit or instigating a stretching regime before the work begins. Though none of these is bad, they just don't solve the problem. Fix the problem by making the work easier. My experience with ergonomic studies in the gas, water, and electric utility industries is that intervention can prevent 80 percent of ergonomic injuries, and that 80 percent is what you need to go after. The other 20 percent is the 'nature of the beast' work. Eventually, we will fix those as well.
Make the supervisor or crew leader the most important person in your ergonomic program. Their constant contact with the workers makes them the most informed about which tasks are the most hazardous and cause the most injuries. The supervisor has to be accountable for his team's ergonomic injuries, and he has to believe that the program is an important undertaking. This is not as huge a responsibility for a supervisor as it may seem. Often all that is required is repositioning equipment and remembering that the work can be much easier and less dangerous if someone takes the time to stop and plan ahead before the work begins.
Three Ergonomic Fallacies
The first ergonomic fallacy is that your aging workforce is most at risk. In fact, older workers know their limitations and work much more safely than younger people. Additionally, we won't ever have a workforce of only 25-year-old gorillas—the workforce is always aging.
The second fallacy is that personal protective equipment, physical conditioning, and training will prevent ergonomic injuries. Ergonomics does not depend on the worker. Even with the best of intentions, fatigue, distraction, stress, or environmental conditions can prevent the worker from doing what they've been trained to do. Ergonomics looks at the problems and solutions in the whole work practice, including tools, equipment, materials, and the employee's movements, and prevents injuries for the whole work group, not just the individual.
The third fallacy is that designing out ergonomic risk factors is expensive. It's doing nothing that can be a very expensive risk, while intervention sometimes costs nothing. Large companies may have their own ergonomic team or may send their safety team to an ergonomist for half a day of training pertaining to their industry. If you do hire an ergonomist, make sure it is someone who knows your industry. In my experience, the best ergonomic solutions are based on the expertise of the workers. They know their bodies and can best identify what activities take the biggest toll and the most effort.
General Lifting Guidelines
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The Ergonomics Mindset
Ergonomics often gets put at the bottom of the pile of concerns for business owners. In fact, when the cost of doing nothing is considered, ergonomics is the most important safety measure one can undertake, short of preventing fatalities. Business owners should make an ergonomics program part of their businesses' annual strategic plans. Ask yourself, what did we do for ergonomic improvements this year? Once you get into the mindset that ergonomics will make a difference, you'll never look back.
To access a list of industrial hygiene consultants who specialize in health and safety issues, visit the American Industrial Hygiene Association website at www.aiha.org and go to the consultants listing.
About the Author
Patricia Seeley has a Certification in Professional Ergonomics (CPE), is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH), and has been elected secretary of the AIHA Ergonomics Committee. Readers are invited to contact Seeley with any ergonomic questions they may have at ergo@wi.rr.com, by phone at (262) 370-2417, or by accessing her website at www.ergonomics-solutions.com.
