Understanding Comfort Issues in High-Level Protective Apparel

Ergonomic design in protective apparel ...

"Ian Holme attended the annual Survival conference in Leeds, UK, where debate focused on testing and standards and the complete understanding of issues relating to the comfort of those wearing of high-performance protective apparel.

... Work with manikins began at Leeds University in 1988, with the construction and operation of a heated, water-filled fabric manikin to assist in studies of heat loss from clothing in cold and windy conditions. In 1995, this was re-skinned to give it the same dimensions as the manikin used at the Hohenstein Institutes, known as Charlie, in order to produce comparable data for a European project on postal delivery workers clothing.

... However, when compared with controlled human wearer trials of hard and soft shell clothing systems, human trials detected additional points of leakage, the amount and location depending on the level, amount and type of activity. This finding was reinforced by a study of water-resistant zips in garments where little or no leakage occurred in rain-room manikin trials, but considerable leakage was observed in human trials because of the flexing caused by clothing movement

Dave Brook concluded that manikin tests were a useful tool for performance clothing designers, but such tests should not be used to set standards because the data they provide are not realistic and can be dangerously misleading.


... For clothing systems to be used with body armour the complete ergonomics must be considered, Woods continued. The base layer (most important item) must have thermal wicking and breathable properties plus, where necessary, flame retardancy. Fleece needs to be compliant with the need for standalone use and as a component part of the clothing system.

The outer garment needed to be lighter and highly visible in relation to EN 471. The clothing system must also be capable of being resistant to fuel, grease, oil and diesel, as well as to contaminated blood and body fluids, it being possible to simply wipe off such liquids. The same criteria applied to public order suits.

There is a need for a garment system method that ensured that testing was conducted in use in the field or in controlled environments, namely:

* each layer needs to be tested;

* the interactivity of fabrics in the system needs testing;

* the design, construction and engineering of the systems needs testing."   (Continued via RedOrbit)   [Ergonomics Resources]

OSHA Adds Flexography Module to Printing Industry Ergonomics eTool

New ergonomics training for printing industry ...

"OSHA today launched a new Flexography Module as part of its interactive web-based training tool Ergonomics in the Printing Industry eTool. The module and the eTool are products of the agency's Alliance with the Graphic Arts Coalition.

"This is an important addition to a valuable resource that helps educate employees and their employers about avoiding ergonomic-related injuries in the printing industry," said OSHA Administrator Edwin G. Foulke, Jr. "The flexography module builds on the practical information in the eTool that shows how workers can make simple ergonomic improvements to avoid hazards on the job."

Flexography is a versatile printing process that can be used on a variety of materials of varying sizes, including cereal boxes, bottle labels, potato chip bags, frozen food bags, corrugated boxes, newspapers and grocery bags. While there are significant variations in the process, the new tool simplifies the operation into three broad categories: prepress, press, and postpress.

The eTool focuses on providing employees involved in printing processes with information on preventing musculoskeletal disorders that may result from workplace activities, including lifting heavy items, lifting too often, or working in awkward body postures."   (Continued via Yahoo! News)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Tired Techs Countering Fatigue With Common Sense

Overcoming fatigue in critical jobs ...

"Decades ago, one of my A&P school instructors cautioned the class, "It will be years before you get to drive to and from work in the sunlight, so you'd better learn to sleep during the day." Since working nights and odd hours are facts of life for aviation technicians, he cautioned, "If you are looking for a 9-to-5 type of job, aviation is probably not for you." It was good advice.

Late flights, unscheduled maintenance and unpredictable workloads often lead to long hours, missed meals and angry or disappointed voices over the phone. But there's another consideration, and a dangerous one, lurking behind the time clock: it's fatigue, and all the problems that can ensue therefrom.

Fatigue-related errors are a major contributor to both civil and military aircraft accidents. Flight crew rest rules have long existed to help reduce mistakes, but errors from weariness continue. The difficulty trying to regulate crew rest is that you can't force a pilot or anyone else to actually rest on command like flipping a switch, particularly one who's anxious or has lots of undone chores to be accomplished or is six chapters into a page-turner.

Aviation is hardly alone in being vulnerable to fatigue-related mistakes. Most forms of transportation including trucking, rail and maritime operations are susceptible. Some medical professionals work long and irregular shifts and, coincidentally, many medical mistakes have been traced back to fatigue. Both nuclear power plant accidents at Three-Mile Island in Pennsylvania and at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, as well as the Bhopal chemical plant disaster in India had operator fatigue as a contributor.

Maintenance technicians are just as susceptible to making fatigue-related errors as a counterpart in any other profession, but the problem is particularly insidious when flying machines are involved. Maintenance mistakes can take months to surface and it can be difficult, if not impossible, to properly identify the true root cause. To help defend against the weary wrench syndrome, employ to-the-issue information and effective countermeasures."   (Continued via Aviation Week)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Teen Worker Injuries a 'Significant Health Problem'

Teen safety still a problem in the workplace ...

"A survey of 6,810 teens found that more than half of them worked, and 514 of them had been injured on the job.

"The findings from this study clearly indicate that work-related injuries among youth are a significant health problem," explain Kristina Zierold, Ph.D., assistant professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and Henry Anderson, M.D., chief medical officer of the Wisconsin Division of Public Health.

The authors of the study, which was published in the American Journal of Health Behavior and funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, report that 150 of the teens were injured severely enough that activities at home, work or school were affected for more than three days, and 97 filed for workers' compensation.

Among the reasons why teen workers suffer on-the-job injuries is a lack of safety training, the authors point out. For many teen workers, on-the-job training is provided by a co-worker."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Don't Let Workplace Health and Safety Run Your Life

Having fun and being safe at the same time ...

"Although all employees should focus on staying safe in the workplace, it is important to focus on risks that cause potential harm and not on trivial and petty ones, according to Bill Callaghan, Chair of the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Commission (HSC).

"I'm sick and tired of hearing that 'health and safety' is stopping people doing worthwhile and enjoyable things when at the same time others are suffering real harm and even death as a result of mismanagement at work," Callaghan said.

As a result, the U.K. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a set of key principles that detail what the organization believes sensible risk management should, and should not, be about.

The HSE says sensible risk management should be about:

- Ensuring that workers and the public are properly protected.
- Providing overall benefit to society by balancing benefits and risks, with a focus on reducing real risks – both those that arise more often and those with serious consequences.
- Enabling innovation and learning, not stifling them.
- Ensuring that those who create risks manage them responsibly and understand that failure to manage real risks responsibly is likely to lead to robust action.
- Enabling individuals to understand that as well as the right to protection, they also have to exercise responsibility."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Sleepless Truck Drivers are Hazards on the Road, Study Finds

Lack of sleep can kill ...

"Truck drivers getting little sleep or suffering from sleep apnea show signs of impaired performance that can make them a hazard on the road, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) School of Medicine.

Penn researchers examined 406 truck drivers and found those who routinely slept less than 5 hours a night were likely to fare poorly on tests designed to measure sleepiness, attention and reaction time and steering ability. Drivers with severe sleep apnea – a condition in which someone stops breathing often during sleep – also were sleepy and had performance impairment.

This study is among the largest and most comprehensive studies of truck drivers and fatigue ever done.

... Nearly 5 percent of the truckers had severe sleep apnea and about 13 percent of the drivers got fewer than 5 hours of sleep a night on a regular basis.

"There are daytime neurobehavioral performance impairments that are found commonly in commercial drivers, and these are more likely among those who get an average of 5 or less hours of sleep a night and those who suffer from severe obstructive sleep apnea," the researchers concluded."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Sleepless Truck Drivers are Hazards on the Road, Study Finds

Now here is a dangerous workplace environment ...

"Truck drivers getting little sleep or suffering from sleep apnea show signs of impaired performance that can make them a hazard on the road, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) School of Medicine.

Penn researchers examined 406 truck drivers and found those who routinely slept less than 5 hours a night were likely to fare poorly on tests designed to measure sleepiness, attention and reaction time and steering ability. Drivers with severe sleep apnea – a condition in which someone stops breathing often during sleep – also were sleepy and had performance impairment.

This study is among the largest and most comprehensive studies of truck drivers and fatigue ever done.

... When the results were compiled, investigators discovered:

- Just over 5 percent of drivers showed impairment on all three performance-related tests.
- Nearly 60 percent did not fare well by at least one measure.
- About half of the drivers who got less than 5 hours of sleep had two or three impairments. That's compared to 10 percent of drivers who got more than 8 hours of sleep regularly.
- Likewise, about 60 percent of the drivers with severe sleep apnea had two or three impairments."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)   [Ergonomics Resources]

2006 National Ergonomics Conference Schedule Announced, Features New Track Of Programming; Most Product Debuts in Expo's 12-Year History

Looks like a good program this year ...

"The 12th Annual National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition (NECE) at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nov. 28 - Dec. 1 will feature a record number of conference sessions, and mark the debut of a new, sixth track of conference programming. Attendees will have over 80 educational opportunities to choose from, and the most products to evaluate in the Expo's 12-year history.

Last year's NECE broke records on a number of fronts with a 10% increase in attendance, and over 120 exhibitors. "This year's NECE promises to be the largest gathering of ergonomics professionals to date," commented Walter Charnizon, President, Continental Exhibitions, Inc., owners/producers of the NECE, "We received scores of attendee registrations even before the final program was released. Ergonomics professionals are choosing to attend based on the strength of the NECE's reputation. I can't think of a better testimonial from the ergonomics community."

The year's conference tracks will include: Office & Call Center Ergonomics, Industrial Ergonomics & Material Handling, Special Topics including the Aging Workforce, Program Management & ROI, with last year's debut track of Healthcare & Lab Ergonomics back by popular demand, and new daily tracks of Plant Safety & Ergonomics, Design & Ergonomics, and Software & Technology being added this year."   (Continued via SYS-CON)   [Ergonomics Resources]

iBrail Creative Team

Development of a touch sensitive braille note taker ..

"City Paper doesn't have a Braille edition, so do your blind neighbors a favor and read this good news aloud. Thanks to a team of senior engineering majors in Professor Andrew Conn's Engineering Design Class at Johns Hopkins University, soon a sleek, handheld, needs-no-batteries appliance may be on the market that allows sightless readers to jot down Braille notes up to six times quicker than the old "punch one dot at a time" stylus method. Best of all, its inexpensive and self-assembled design is a godsend to Third World countries, where illiteracy among the blind is epidemic. The project team has dispersed for the summer, but we caught up with some of the members in two separate interviews--first with supervising Conn and student Mark MacLeod, and then MacLeod, student Penny Robinson, and senior machine shop coordinator Eric Harden. They're all proud of the device that their "Team IBRAIL" created, and rightly so.

City Paper: How did this project get started?

Andrew Conn: The National Federation of the Blind [NFB] sponsored this project. They said what the world needs is an inexpensive way to create Braille. There are wonderful machines, typewriter type machines, electronic machines that cost $5,000-$6,000, but if you're poor and blind, wow--that's a mountain. They hoped we could keep the costs down to $50, or maybe $35, for pieces and the parts. But that's it. They didn't tell us how to do it. And so we started the process for this project, or any project, by defining the so-called elements of [the device]. And so we brainstorm--all of us, the whole class--for ideas.

Mark MacLeod: The first brainstorming session I can't really recall, but I know pretty early along the road we were talking about a typewriter. That is the most common method for mechanizing Braille writing. They have the Perkins Brailler, which is the first way to make Braille."   (Continued via Baltimore City Paper)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Touch Sensitive

Steelcase Workplace Index Survey Shows Decline in Workspace Personalization

Mobility leads to impersonal workspace ...

Steelcase, a global manufacturer of office environments, today revealed results of the second of a three-part Workplace Index Survey on the Nature of Work in 2006 conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC). The study analyzes the trend of workspace personalization, what workers use to personalize and how corporate culture impacts personal changes to the office environment.

The study targeted nearly 700 office workers in the United States, and found that just over half (59 percent) of Americans personalize their workspace. A similar study conducted in 1996 identified that 85 percent of Americans decorate their workspace, revealing a decline of 26 percent over the past ten years.

... According to the study, there are various practical reasons for not decorating a workspace, many of which deal with the issue of space itself. Thirty-seven percent of American workers share space with another, 35 percent do not have a permanent space and 28 percent cited the lack of space to personalize. Other reasons cited for foregoing personalization included wanting to maintain a professional image (17 percent) and to avoid distraction (13 percent)."   (Continued via Yahoo! Finance)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Gilding the golden years

Designing for seniors ...

"Imagine strolling into your luxury home without breaking your stride to climb stairs. In the kitchen, painted your favorite color, your glass-top stove wipes clean after dinner and the single-lever kitchen faucet swivels easily as you rinse the dishes.

Should you spill a glass of red wine on your designer sofa during an after-dinner toast with friends in front of a two-story living-room fireplace, no worries. You can practically sweep the stuff off the stain-repellent upholstery.

If you're a senior, these are the types of amenities and products that can make life easier. Apartment residences such as Holly Creek in Centennial, Boulder's Academy and the Lodge at Balfour in Louisville offer many of these features. Even better, they contain design ideas and products you can use in your own home to make your life easier at any age."   (Continued via Rocky Mountain News)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Zero Threshold Bathroom

Pain-Free Computers for Kids - Ergonomists Find Kids Too Are at Risk From Repetitive Strain Injuries

Ergonomic computer setup for kids ...

"These days, teenagers use computers for hours every day. But over time, all that logging on may be putting the kind of strains on their bodies that used to only be seen in adults. If your teens are on the computer all the time now, these new techniques may keep them pain-free later in life.

Computers are the name of the game for today's tech-savvy teens. Most of them have been logging on since they were pre-K! Experts say many of these surfers spend too much time on the computer every day, so their bodies are paying the price with symptoms like finger pain and neck cramps.

"Kids who use the computers everyday are twice as likely to have symptoms -- the kind of symptoms that when we see them as adults are warning signs of disability," ergonomist Robin Mary Gillespie, tells DBIS.

She says in a survey of 500 people, ages 12 to 18, the most common complaint of daily computer users was neck and shoulder pain. To avoid pain, the mouse needs to be as close to your body as possible. Put a bridge over the number keypad so the mouse is closer to you."   (Continued via DBIS)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Ergonomics for Kids

Repetitive stress injuries fall through legal gaps

How some companies are handling the law ...

"Tiffany Friesen, 20, loved how strong she felt doing "man's work" at her job as a dockworker last year for Watkins Motor Lines. She never dreamed she'd wind up debilitated, barely able to type or lift a stack of papers.

The West Linn resident would unload hundreds of boxes a day, each filled with as much as 50 pounds of Nike products. After several months of repeating the same motions, she developed tendinitis in her right wrist and received a diagnosis of 70 percent permanent disability. Her wrist stayed swollen to twice its normal size for more than five months.

Friesen received a financial settlement from her company, but she says it doesn't make up for not having a body that works.

... In 2001, President Bush repealed a law passed in the waning days of the Clinton administration that would have required new workplace rules to combat repetitive stress injuries. Instead, the current administration is developing industry-specific guidelines. In an effort to save businesses money, the guidelines are voluntary.

This means that most businesses aren't doing anything to mitigate for ergonomic injuries, says Anne Shihadeh, president of ErgoPro Consulting, who lives in Tigard.

"Ninety percent of employers (in the southwest suburbs) would all say, 'Well, we have a catalog of office products that we allow people to buy out of, and there's a label on our chairs that says ergonomic.' There is absolutely more that should be done," says Shihadeh, who ran the city of Portland's award-winning ergonomics program. "What's the No. 2 reason people miss work in this country? Back pain. Redesigning plants and offices isn't a waste of money; it keeps people from missing work."   (Continued via Oregon Live)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Blind Users Getting Help to Get on Internet

A little help for blind users ...

"For most Web users, pop-up ads and layered graphics can be annoying. But for blind users, they are major roadblocks on the Internet highway.

But pressure from lawsuits and advocates for the visually impaired has resulted in Web pages that are easier for the blind to navigate using screen-reading equipment.

Last month Google introduced a special search engine that ranks sites according to how accessible they are to the blind (labs.google.com/accessible/). Yahoo! also redid its home page within the past month with larger, simpler display options, and AOL will soon follow suit.

"More and more companies are going to have to address these issues, not only for the disabled population, but for the aging (baby boomers) who are going to be exerting pressure of their own to access all these technologies," said Jesse Walker, a human factors research psychologist at the University of Dayton Research Institute."   (Continued via RedOrbit)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Academics, Ergonomics, Aesthetics

The importance of customizing for an individual ...

"What the catalogs don't tell you about furnishing your child's homework space.

Aparent who wants to know how to create an at-home study space that'll help the kids get into Harvard won't find a blueprint anywhere in the annals of academic research. The experts can't even agree that the space should be quiet, so how could they recommend the optimal chair, desk, lamp and accessories for a future Ivy Leaguer?

"I always needed to have a quiet space with zero distractions so I could concentrate," said Dr. Rick Bavaria, vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Centers. "But for others, that kind of quiet can be maddening, and they need to have some sort of distraction, some background noise.

"The best advice is to know your child and know what their best study habits are. There's no one recipe that works for every child."

Parents of more than one probably already know that. The rest are either out shopping for the desks they wanted when they were kids -- a parental "don't" on Bavaria's tip list -- or, worse, propping up Junior at the adult-scale household computer."   (Continued via SFGate)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Ergo your way to less crabbiness

Basic office ergonomics tips from Microsoft ...

"You know that you feel better when your body is in good shape; why do you let it all fall to pieces the minute you step through your office door? It's time to think about staying in shape while at work too.

... "Neutral posture" refers to the resting position of each joint, i.e., the position in which there is the least amount of tension or pressure on nerves, tendons, muscles, and bones. It's also the position in which muscles are at their resting length, neither contracted nor stretched. Some examples of your body in the neutral posture:

Your lovely fingers are gently curved, in their natural resting position. They're not spread apart, and they're neither fully straightened out nor tightly curled.

Your wrist is in line with your forearm. It's neither bent up nor bent down, and it's definitely not bent towards the thumb or towards the little finger. Ouchie!

The shoulders are in a resting position when they are neither pulled forward, back, or down, nor elevated.

Your head is balanced on your spinal column. It's not tilted forward, back or to either side, and it's not rotated to the left or right. Look straight ahead, kid."   (Continued via Microsoft)   [Ergonomics Resources]

Display Hieght

'Pack It Light, Wear It Right' to Ease Backpack Pain and School Stress

Tips for getting backpack ergonomics right ...

"Today's students carry a heavy load. Stress to achieve and fit in can weigh as heavily on a student's mind as the books in their backpacks. Fortunately, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) is showing students how to alleviate their pain from backpacks, while also helping them to learn, play and socialize to succeed in school.

As another school year begins AOTA is implementing a campaign called -- "Pack It Light, Wear It Right" to show students the healthiest way to use a backpack. More than 40 million students wear backpacks and according to one study, 6 out of 10 students ages 9-20 reported chronic back pain related to backpacks. Musco-skeletal problems in adulthood typically begin in these formative years of childhood. Tips for students include:

Backpack weight should be no more than 15 percent of a student's total
body weight;

Backpack straps should be worn over both shoulders for an evenly balanced
load;

Load heavier items in the backpack closest to the student's back."   (Continued via Yahoo! Finance)   [Ergonomics_Resources]

Not just at the office - Ergonomics also apply to home ... and life

Ergonomics applied to household tasks ...

"When it comes to ergonomics, health officials say it's the seemingly innocuous activities - writing, chopping food, washing dishes and watching TV - that have the potential to create health nightmares.

"People are more concerned with completing the task, so (for) everyday things like writing, driving or writing a news story, even, people are not thinking about their posture and body position," said David Brandenburg, an ergonomist for the University of California, Los Angeles. "They are so engaged on getting somewhere or taking notes that they are putting their bodies in awkward positions."

Over time, that awkward body positioning can lead to serious muscular-skeletal injuries that require physical therapy or surgery, said Jeanni Moyer, program manager for occupational rehabilitation at Health@Work, a division of Washington County Hospital.

Key examples of less-considered repetitive tasks include:

- Driving with the steering wheel too high, or gripping the wheel tightly in reaction to the external stresses of driving (think traffic jams), can cause aches and pains over time, Brandenburg said.

- Reading in poor light usually means the reader will have to lurch or hunch over in order to better see the text, which over time will lead to discomfort, said occupational therapist assistant Kathy Mooney with Health@Work."   (Continued via The Herald-Mail)   [Ergonomics_Resources]

Transparent Machine Safety

Safety light curtains can avoid a lot of injuries and increase productivity ...

"Applying safety light curtains with the right features set can maximize employee safety and productivity.

Safeguarding employees from workplace hazards not only is a moral and legal imperative; it's a sound business decision. According to the National Safety Council, employers spent an average of $34,000 for each disabling injury and $1.15 million for each employee death in the most recent year for which statistics have been released.

Of course, it's not a difficult engineering challenge to design effective safeguarding for virtually any type of machine. The real challenge is to provide guarding that will deliver high levels of safety while not impeding the productivity of the machine and while maximizing cycle time.

When correctly specified and applied, safety light curtains seamlessly integrate with the machine or other equipment and virtually disappear from the perspective of the machine operator. As such, when properly applied, safety light curtains provide a guarding solution that enables an operator to work unimpeded for increased productivity, coupled with transparent and reliable protection from the machine hazards."
(Continued via Occupational Hazards)   [Ergonomics_Resources]

Prius Shift Control

How to avoid aches caused by office computers

The Russian view on office ergonomics ...

"Today, almost all office workers have to do their work with the help of computers. After working with computers all day long, many people feel in the evening that this or that part of the body aches or causes troubles.

Manual therapists give a number of effective recommendations how to properly organize work with computers and avoid health problems.

Computer work supposes a sitting mode of life which means that muscles are not exercised during the day. The neck and the back suffer most of all from this sitting mode of living. The situation may get even worse if office employees have their workplaces badly organized.

It is important that office workers should have ergonomic monitors. Such monitors can be adjusted to the body peculiarities of every particular man. An ergonomic monitor can be fixed vertically or horizontally, turned in any direction; at that its height and the screen bent are well-regulated.

If a monitor is slightly shifted to the left, this position will make the neck muscles get strained on the left side and stretched on the right side. This misbalance will make it problematic to turn the head to the right. So, an office monitor must be placed in accordance with the middle line. In other words, the monitor must be placed immediately behind a keyboard; the middle line of the keyboard must coincide with the middle lines of the monitor and a worker’s body."   (Continued via Pravda)               [Usability~Resources]

Workplace Fatalities Down 1 Percent from 2004

A little good news ...

"The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2005 on Aug. 10, which found that 62 more employees than the previous year survived the workday.

The number of workplace fatalities totaled 5,702 in 2005, down from 5,764 in 2004. The fatality rate also declined last year to 4.0 per 100,000 employees, down from 4.1 in 2004.

In other good news, fatal falls declined by 7 percent – the bad news being that 2004 marked an all-time high for such injuries. Fatal falls among roofers, a group targeted by many OSHA outreach programs across the country, dropped by 44 percent in 2005.

The lowest-ever annual total for fatalities among women workers – 402 – was recorded in 2005, but fatalities among Hispanic workers continued to rise, possibly due in part to the increased employment of Hispanics in the workforce. When the increased number of Hispanic workers is taken into consideration, says OSHA, fatalities per capita are down for that worker population.

The bad news is an increase of fatal work injuries among worker under 20 years of age were up about 18 percent from 2004, for a total of 166 fatalities in 2005. Fatalities among agricultural workers were up 23 percent – from 145 in 2004 to 178 in 2005. "   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)

[Ergonomics Resources]

Good ergonomics can make life a whole lot better

Good practical tips for maintaining good posture ...

"Your body is a productivity tool, whether it is at work or at play. Unfortunately, sometimes, we are not able to use it to its full potential. Many of us are professional sitters. We sit on the job, on our way to the job in a car or on the bus and then we sit to relax when the job is done. This excessive sitting doesn’t do wonders for our posture.

A person’s posture gives us a sneak peak in to his health since it gives an indication as to what the spine is doing. If someone is slouching or carrying more weight to one side, she is putting imbalanced pressure on certain areas of the spine. Therefore, we see interference on the corresponding nerves.

Your body functions best when it is in a neutral position. Many moons ago, I wrote about the ins and outs of neutral spine, but as a refresher, let’s say that it is when the pelvis is sitting parallel to the ground. This means no sticking the butt out or tucking it under."   (Continued via The ChronicleHerald.ca)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Women and Carpal Tunnel Pain

CTS with a focus on women ...

"Women, age 30 to 60, are three times as likely as men to suffer from carpal tunnel pain and thirty percent of pregnant women will suffer from this problem during their third trimester due to hormonal changes and fluid retention.

How does CTS effect women?
• A woman’s smaller bone structure means a smaller carpal tunnel – and a higher risk of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
• Women aged 30-60 are three times more likely than men to suffer CTS.
• 30% of pregnant women will experience CTS during their third trimester due to the accumulation of fluids in the body. (National Institute of Health)
• Hormonal changes in women, such as menopause, often lead to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
• Office desks are often designed for men, but women are the ones doing more repetitive tasks such as computer work. This can contribute to higher repetitive stress injuries in women.
• Increasing the use of a keyboard from 1 to 4 hours per day increases the chance of experiencing CTS from 45% to 92%. (National Center for Health Statistics)
• Most CTS wrist devices on the market are not designed with comfort in mind. The Smart Glove is made of soft, breathable material that fits gently over the wrist, providing the most comfortable and soothing pain relief system available.
• A controlled study conducted by the US Postal Service found a 50% decrease in carpal tunnel pain by using the IMAK Smart Glove."   (Continued via PRWeb)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Occupational Medicine a Good Fit for Companies

Another aspect of workplace safety ...

"In the course of a typical week, Dr. Robin Epp treats a host of minor workplace injuries that might otherwise send workers to the emergency room.

"We do a lot of acute work," said Epp, a staff physician at Iowa Methodist Occupational Medicine's West Des Moines office. Some of the most common injuries she treats are sprains, fractures, minor lacerations and foreign objects in the eye, she said. "And we do lots of physicals."

Each year between 300 and 400 Greater Des Moines businesses use the occupational medicine services provided by Iowa Methodist Occupational Medicine, which operates clinics at Lakeview Medical Center and Penn Medical Park on the East Side.

A subspecialty of preventive medicine that came into its own in the 1980s, occupational medicine programs are becoming more competitive in Central Iowa as employers increasingly recognize the benefits of having a program. that focuses on preventing and treating workplace injuries to minimize lost time.

"A difference we have from family physicians is that we're much more familiar with the work environment," Goranson said. Because the occupational medicine physicians have toured the work-sites of the companies that use the program, they "are tuned in to the work and how employees may be injured," she said."   (Continued via RedOrbit)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Preparing For Influenza Pandemic: It's Not If, But When

If it happens, it will overshadow other safety issues ...

"If your company is not already preparing for influenza pandemic, you need to begin now. A good place to start is your local health department. Here's how to do it – and why it's so important.

Influenza pandemics are like hurricanes: they happen. Although no one can predict with any certainty when the next one will strike, most experts believe we are overdo.

All agree that sooner or later an influenza pandemic is going to break out, with the potential for devastating consequences on the world economy – and your company. The influenza pandemic of 1918 not only killed millions of people, it caused innumerable bankruptcies.

At a recent ORC Worldwide meeting, Julie Gerberding, M.D., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told our members why business planning for a pandemic is so important.

We could be close to an outbreak of avian flu, and a pandemic is certain to happen at some point in the future, Gerberding noted. "We've never been as close to a pandemic in my lifetime," Gerberding said.

She predicted a pandemic would kill 2 million Americans and place three-quarters of a million people on intensive care respirators, overwhelming the nation's health care capacity while causing enormous disruptions to the world economy.

Companies and communities must plan to be "self-contained" and not expect much help from the federal government, according to Gerberding. "In this planning scenario, we are operating under the assumption that local planning has to be where the action is," she asserted."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Visual Ergonomics in the Workplace

Increasing productivity with eye care ...

"Vision is our most precious sense. Our eyes are in constant use every waking minute of every day. Psychologists estimate that 80% of the information people obtain from the external environment is by means of their visual pattern (Manas). Clearly, the way we use our eyes can determine how well we learn, work and perform.

The way we use our eyes each day has changed dramatically in recent years. More tasks are now performed at a dose viewing distance and under a wide range of workplace conditions. To perform at maximum potential, a person's visual system must adapt to these changes.

This article examines visual function and its role in workplace productivity. By understanding the connection between comfort, health and productivity, and knowing the options for good visual ergonomics and workplace lighting, readers will gain a better understanding of potential visual stressors in the workplace, and of how vision and visual comfort can affect productivity.

Understanding the Eye & Visual System

A complete eye examination is more than just reading letters on a chart 20 ft away. This is simply one test of the function of one part of the visual system. The eyeball is just the receiver of light and the comparison of the eye to a camera is an inadequate description of how people see. Visual processing is accomplished in the brain where visual perception occurs. "Eyesight" is the process of properly focusing tile incoming light to the proper area of the retina, whereas "visual perception" is the process of taking that information into the brain, making sense of it and reacting appropriately (Schapero, et al)."   (Continued via RedOrbit )            [Ergonomics Resources]

Wear Your Safety Goggles

All the reasons people don't wear safety glasses ...

"Laboratories are hazardous places. It's easy to forget that when you work in one, day after day, and it's easy to get complacent about eyewear. But eye injuries are painful and sometimes permanent, and all it takes is a momentary lapse. Consider this example from an upper-division organic chemistry course at a small private college. A student arrived with no lab coat and didn't put on his safety goggles. He took a place at a shared fume hood with two other students, one of whom was in the process of heating solvent in a flask. Suspicious that something wasn't right, the student heating the solvent raised the sash of the fume hood to adjust the setup.

At that moment the glass shattered, spraying solvent on all three students. Two of them were wearing eye protection. The new arrival, working next to the student whose flask had shattered, took solvent directly in both eyes. "He was there less than 2 minutes, and he ended up with permanent reduction in his vision," says Denis Sapiro, manager of the Occupational Health and Safety Office at the University of Washington, Seattle, recalling the incident from his undergraduate days. "It was hazy from then on."   (Continued via ScienceCareers.org)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Protect Those Eyes

Back Injuries Put A Strain on Workers and Employers

Tips for avoiding back strain ...

"Job related back injuries are a preventable affliction that affect workers and businesses across the country, adding up to billions of dollars in lost income, productivity, revenue and medical costs.

The Centers for Disease Control reported that back injuries account for almost 20% of all workplace injuries and illnesses. In 2004, the U.S. Department of Labor documented 112,380 injuries to the lumbar region of the back alone. According to the CDC, back injuries are costing the nation approximately $20 to $50 billion dollars per year.

Occupations at highest risk for back injuries include: warehouse workers, grocery store stock clerks, delivery men, furniture movers, airline baggage handlers and other professions requiring repetitive lifting which exerts excessive pressure on back muscles and the spinal column.

... Recommendations for back safety include

· Avoid excessive repetitive lifting. If a job requires a lot of lifting, take a few minutes in between lifts to shift and change positions
· Incorporate ergonomic training and use lifting techniques that place minimum stress on the lower back.
· Use as back belts and other safety equipment
· Remember, back belts won't allow a person to lift objects larger than their physical capacity.
· Physical conditioning or stretching programs to reduce the risk of muscle strain.
Remember, one hour of prevention is worth two weeks of workman's compensation."   (Continued via PR9.net)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Conquering Depression in the Workplace

Depression can be a safety factor in the workplace ...

"Depression affects morale, productivity and effectiveness, but you don't have to let it bring your workers down.

By Christopher Knippers, Ph.D.

Lynette had a deep, embarrassing secret. She had been the star employee of the company. Everyone loved her. She was now a very capable manager. Even her divorce a couple of years ago hadn't seemed to affect her. Lynette was the one who always had a smile, a new idea and tireless dedication to her department.

But for the past few weeks, there was a growing change in Lynette. She was late for work, her attitude was negative and she was short-tempered. The quality of Lynette's work was slipping.

A close co-worker discovered Lynette's ex-husband had remarried, causing Lynette to fall into a deep depression, one that impacted the quality of her work and her relationships with coworkers.

This case of a depressed employee is very typical of how depression affects a company's productivity, morale and effectiveness. Life's challenges sometimes overwhelm employees who are already vulnerable for some pre-existing reason. People who are most vulnerable to having depression triggered by the typical stressors of life are those who derive an inordinate amount of their fulfillment in life from either:

Harmonious interpersonal relationships.
Obtaining a high amount of positive recognition for high achievements.
If anything goes wrong in a relationship for the first type, or if the second type falls short of his or her own high standards of achievement and recognition, depression can be triggered in an employee."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Choice of one for disabled on-line supermarket shoppers

Making websites accessible is taking a long time ...

"Tesco is the only on-line supermarket which exceeds minimum accessibility standards for disabled users, reveals leading computing and disability specialist, AbilityNet. In its latest eNation report, the national charity revisits the top five food retailers’ websites, originally reviewed in the summer of 2004, to establish what progress, if any, has been made towards best practice in this multi-million pound market place.

The survey looked at both usability and accessibility using a programme of automated tools, as well as a wide variety of manual checks. Consistent with the 2004 report, only www.tesco.com can be easily accessed by people with a vision impairment, dyslexia or physical disability making mouse use difficult, and gains a four-star rating on AbilityNet’s five-star scale.

Just one other site passes the basic three-star accessibility rating - www.morrisons.co.uk - which has improved significantly from its original one-star score; but as an information only site, visitors cannot purchase goods directly on-line."   (Continued via Ability.net)            [Ergonomics Resources]

Making Time for Safety

Rreasons for not providing safety training ...

"I'm a gardener. I grow flowers, vegetables and herbs in a tiny urban yard. As a half-joke, I often give my busy friends a small jar of dried thyme, telling them, "Everyone can use a little more time."

Perhaps I should send my entire crop to Michigan, where employers claim a "lack of time" is the greatest hindrance to workplace safety education.

A recent survey of 700 business owners, operators and managers conducted by EPIC-MRA found 25 percent of respondents claimed that not having enough time was "the greatest barrier" in educating their workers on staying safe. Eleven percent cited employee turnover as the greatest barrier to providing workplace safety education, while 7 percent each blamed the availability of information and the cost of providing training."   (Continued via Occupational Hazards)            [Ergonomics Resources]