Eye Protecting LCD Monitors

A solution to Computer Vision Syndrom ...

"This one goes out to all of the cubicle warriors out there right now. Day in and day out you are forced to sit and stare at a monitor doing the same thing everyday. Well those monitor’s the company supplied you with aren’t exactly working out best towards your health. There is a little thing called Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and that is what is messing up your eyes after staring at the computer screen all day. Well Prestigio Technology has released two 17 inch and one 19 inch monitors that features a superior design with tinted-glass screen coating that prevent any symptoms of CVS occurring. It might be a good idea to not inform the bosses about this, because there could be a potential lawsuit in the future."   continued ...   (Via Gizmodo)

Well Prestigio Monitor

ASSE Urges Employers to Focus on Ergonomics

Employers asked to emphasise ergonomics ...

"As Missouri employers and employees brace for the new state workers' compensation law due to go into effect in January, Missouri members of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) suggest employers and employees focus on reducing workplace musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) to help reduce workers' compensation costs.

To reduce the growing number of MSDs in the workplace, ASSE urges employers to develop and implement effective ergonomic systems as part of their overall safety and health efforts in the workplace.

An initial investment in ergonomic programs removes barriers to quality, productivity and human performance by fitting products, tasks and environments to people. This also reduces costs and can save companies millions."   continued ...   (Via Occupational Hazards)

ASSE.

Serious Workplace Injuries Cost Employers $50.8 Billion in 2003

Workplace injuries cost billions each year ...

"The sixth annual Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index present a good news/bad news scenario for safety professionals and their employers: While the number of serious workplace injuries declined in 2003, their impact on the company bottom line was huge.

Employers spent $50.8 billion in 2003 on wage payments and medical care for workers hurt on the job, according to the Workplace Safety Index, which is produced by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety.

As for the good news, the number of serious workplace accidents fell 6.2 percent in 2003, almost half the total 13.5 percent decline over the last 5 years."   continued ...   (Via Occupational Hazards)

Work Injury.

2005 National Ergonomics Conference and Expo to Host Largest Audience Ever; Exposition Sold Out and Waiting List for Exhibit Space Created

NECE getting ready for largest convention they have had ...

"Continental Exhibitions, Inc., owners and producers of the National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition (NECE) announced that this year's 11th annual show, scheduled for Nov. 29 - Dec. 2 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas will be the largest in its history, with ergonomics and safety professionals from nearly all 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, the U.K., Israel, New Zealand, Brazil, and more already registered to attend.

2005 NECE attendees will benefit from an expanded educational program that includes a new, full track of conference programming for professionals in Healthcare & Laboratory environments, along with traditional tracks for Ergonomics Program Management & ROI, Office & Call Center Ergonomics, Industrial Ergonomics & Material Handing, along with Special Focus Topics including Ergonomics & Product Design, Return to Work Programs, the Aging Workforce, and more. Authorities on these subjects from American Express, Chevron, Duke University & Health System, Ford, JetBlue Airways, Schick, Visa, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Wal-Mart and others will share the secrets to their company's ergonomics success."   continued ...   (Via Yahoo! Finance)

NECE 2005.

Stowaway Shasta full-size keyboard for Bluetooth Blackberrys

A little help for Blackberry Thumb ...

"Think Outside has expanded its line of Stowaway portable keyboards with the Stowaway Shasta, designed specifically for use with Bluetooth-enabled Blackberrys. Like other Stowaways, the Shasta is a folding keyboard that opens to full-size; it includes hotkeys for various Blackberry functions, such as accessing e-mail. We don’t expect this to be a big seller; Blackberry users have invested way too much time in learning how to thumb-type, and we’re they’re not about to give it up, damnit."   continued ...   (Via )

Stowaway Shasta

SafeType Vertical Keyboard

There is some evidence that this keyboard is ergonomically benneficial ...

"So I was browsing the Alternative Keyboard Gallery earlier today and I came across this gem, by SafeType. It's a vertical keyboard that claims to be the ultimate in ergonomics - and they have a Cornell University study to back that up! "Cornell University conducted extensive testing of the Safetype Keyboard™, and found that it greatly reduces the risk of Repetitive Motion Injury (carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.)"

It's a standard QWERTY split keyboard layout, so you don't have to re-learn how to type and there are even mirrors that fly out so that you can see the keys if you're not a great touch typist. Although, frankly, if you're not a great touch-typist by now, you probably don't spend enough time at the keyboard that repetitive stress injuries are a concern for you. If you're having trouble picturing how this all works, check out the QuickTime video on their site (which is also good for a laugh)."   continued ...   (Via TUAW)

Safetype Keyboard.

Ergonomics & economics: Business interests say new rules would hurt state

Keeping ergonomics standards out of state law ...

"Only one state — California — has its own standards for workplace ergonomics.

Business groups and Republican lawmakers are applying political muscle to make sure Michigan doesn’t become the second.

A state ergonomics advisory committee that has been meeting for two years is on at least its 10th draft of proposed rules that would govern how employers must identify and address conditions that could put workers at risk for job-related injuries caused by repetitive motion, force and other factors."   continued ...   (Via Crain's Detroit Business)

Michigan OSHA.

Is your paycheck worth the stress?

You have to like your job or it will create stress ...

"Feel like your job is killing you? Your work might not be lethal, but it could be taking an unseen toll on your health. Medicine increasingly recognizes the link between stressful jobs and a host of medical problems, from tension headaches and stomach distress to hypertension and heart disease.

"It seems like it's a progressive epidemic related to the workplace and the uncertainties out there," she says.

Surveys consistently reveal that half or more of American workers feel stressed. One quarter cite their jobs as the major stressor in their lives, according to a Northwestern National Life survey. Three-quarters believe workers today face more on-the-job stress than a generation ago, Princeton Survey Research Associates found."   continued ...   (Via IndyStar)

Stressful Job.

Dangerous distractions

It's not what your hands are doing, it's what your head is doing ...

"International Conference on Distracted Driving sought to determine the biggest reasons we lose our concentration behind the wheel.

One of the educational pamphlets distributed at a recent International Conference on Distracted Driving in Toronto was a 16-pager from the Canadian Automobile Association. Titled Pay Attention!, the cover illustration depicts a moronic motorist engaged in the following activities: gabbing on a cellphone, changing a CD, eating a burger and fries, slurping a soft drink, reading the sports section and checking a road map. Simultaneously, that is.

But more often than not, being distracted is not the result of manual dexterity issues. And, sometimes, being distracted is not the end result of wandering eyes, either. Rather, in some cases, distractions are borne out of mental blocks - the result of one's brain switching to autopilot while seated behind the wheel. In other words, the headlights are on, but nobody's home.

"Distracted driving is not about your eyes being on the road," Smiley said. "It's about your mind being on the road.""   continued ...   (Via Montreal Gazette)

Distracted Driving.

REVAMPED RSI DATABASE AIMS TO REDUCE REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURIES

A new database to assist in understanding RSI injuries ...

"A new database expanding and updating existing information on important Court judgments in repetitive strain injury (RSI) cases, will be of direct and immediate benefit to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) who funded it, and to legal and health professionals working in the field RSI, trade unions, insurers and designers. The longer term aim is reducing the number of sufferers from this debilitating industrial injury.

The work related upper limb disorder (WRULD) database has free access to users who register on http://www.humanetechnology.co.uk/registered/intro.php and provides details of judgments including the factors that Courts considered important in reaching their decisions, the degree of care exercised by employers and the amount of damages awarded to claimants.

It is estimated that in 2004/05 nearly 375,000 people in Great Britain suffered from a musculoskeletal disorder(MSD) mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck that was caused or made worse by their current or past work. Many working days are lost across a wide range of occupations."   continued ...   (Via Government News Network)

Health and Safety Executive.

Get comfortable and crank up production

Considering ergonomics when designing an office ...

"The big, boxy desk has gone the way of the 5.25-inch floppy disk. In its place is an L- or U-shaped work area with expanded surfaces and leg room to spare. The one-size-fits-all office chair has given way to seating options with more adjustments than a VCR, and resource materials have come to your fingertips from bookcases across the room. While a number of factors have driven this office evolution into what Ellen Burnop, owner of New River Office Supply, calls the "cockpit arrangement," ergonomics has played a major role.

Simply stated, ergonomics is the study of human efficiency in the work environment. The Occupational Ergonomics Handbook, published in 1999, expands the definition to include "processes involved in designing things for effective human use, and creating environments that are suitable for human living and work. It recognizes that work methods, equipment, facilities, and tool design all influence the worker's motivation, fatigue, likelihood of sustaining an occupational injury or illness, and productivity."

Since time is money, it's beneficial that employees be equipped with workstations that enhance safety and comfort and promote effectiveness and productivity."   continued ...   (Via Blue Ridge Business Journal)

One size does not fit all.

Physiotherapists injury prevention

Even physiotherapists have musculoskeletal problems ..

"Two-thirds of physiotherapy staff suffer from work-related musculoskeletal disorders - the very conditions they are trained to treat.

The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) is calling on the NHS and private-sector employers to develop strategies to reduce the incidence of injuries.

As the research findings emerged, the society said all employers must ensure thorough risk assessments are done for all staff.

The research shows 68% of physiotherapists, physiotherapy assistants and physiotherapy students on clinical placement reported having an musculoskeletal disorder. Almost half had experienced work-related low back pain, while 40% suffered hand, wrist or thumb problems."   continued ...   (Via icWales)

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

frog Design Mind

Products that help blind users ...

"My friend Randy is a technical consultant for IBM. He codes Java and provides user feedback for internal development teams. Like most of us, the majority of Randy’s work involves communication through phone or by email. And like most of us, his mobile phone is an essential tool for business and personal communication.

Randy has also been blind since he was 18 months old, due to a rare childhood eye cancer, retinoblastoma. As a result, he’s very keen on seeking out handsets designed for maximum accessibility—handsets that, in truth, benefit disabled and non-disabled users alike.

A 2004 survey by the American Foundation for the Blind lists the top two mobile phone accessibility needs as “keys that are easily identifiable by touch” and “voice output” — that is, the phone speaks menus options and settings, like the current time. Randy’s last phone had both features, but his current phone, a Sanyo SCP-200, lacks voice output — his phone no longer talks (back) to him — but it does have voice input features, such as voice-enabled dialing."   continued ...   (Via Gizmodo)

The Treofrog.

"iPod thumb" afflicting an appendage near you?

Blackberry Thumb can also occur with an iPod ...

"Apparently, everyone's favorite little white (or black, or pink, or green..) device could be ushering in "a really serious problem" in the form of thumb-related repetitive stress injury (RSI). Carl Irwin from the British Chiropractic Association warns: "The action needed to move the wheel on an iPod is totally unnatural and effectively separates the joint in the thumb every time you use it."

I found this in an article at Scotsman.com, and it goes on to warn about the impending health risks and injuries we could all succumb to as a result of consumer electronics in general, but focuses on the iPod due to its "totally unnatural" motion and the fact it's just so darn popular."   continued ...   (Via TUAW)

iPod Thumb.