April/May 2004

MAKING THE RIGHT ADJUSTMENT

By Nicolette Beharie

It seems to make sense that if workers experience less pain on the job and also understand the importance of work station organization, productivity will improve. But new research suggests that these productivity gains may not necessarily translate into fewer days away from work.

A study headed by Dr. Benjamin Amick, an adjunct scientist with Toronto’s Institute for Work and Health (IWH), looked at 200 tax collectors working for a state revenue services department in the United States. The workers — all in sedentary, computer-intensive jobs — reported less musculoskeletal pain over the workday if they previously received both a highly adjustable chair and ergonomics training. Findings from Dr. Amick’s research apeared last year in Spine in a study called, “Effect of Office Ergonomics Intervention on Reducing Musculoskeletal Symptoms.”

The chair used in the research allowed workers to assume various positions and provided support for both large- and small-frame bodies. The one-time, 90-minute ergonomics training workshop offered employees information on work station layout in general. Productivity climbed almost 18 per cent as a result of reduced worker pain and more effective use of work space, the IWH reports. And the productivity gain was accomplished with no significant change in absenteeism.

What that shows, says Dr. Amick, “is that using workers’ comp databases may not be the best way to evaluate the effectiveness of ergonomic interventions.”

Previous estimates of the social costs of work-related musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs) have relied mostly on estimates of the dollar value of associated lost work time, says a related study led by Dr. Amick for the IWH. Those findings indicate that even firms that don’t employ people with MSIs may benefit from improving seating among office workers and implementing appropriate training.

In fact, says Dr. Amick, only one-third of the productivity increase in the study flows from improved worker health following adoption of the ergonomic intervention. The other two-thirds was the result of workers being able to make better use of their work spaces.

Glenn Rawson, senior manager of health and safety for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, says he would expect productivity to increase along with improvements in worker health and comfort.

Ian Chong, a principal of Seattle-based Ergonomics Inc., says in an article posted on www.ergoteam.net that ergonomics, if applied comprehensively, can have a real and direct impact on productivity, performance, throughput, service delivery and the bottom line. Investments in ergonomics can be returned threefold to tenfold, Chong contends. Sherri Helmka, executive director of the Employers’ Advocacy Council, says employers may be able to implement ergonomic interventions on the equipment they already have. That way, Helmka says, “the cost may be minimal when you compare it to the cost of perhaps having someone absent from work.”

Getting employers to realize that investing in ergonomics is more than reacting to reports of MSIs has been difficult, says Dr. Amick. “We would rather have [employers] be proactive than reactive. And we think that the only way to do that is to demonstrate these links between health and productivity and to show the return on investment,” he adds. “The benefit to this particular employer was more than $25,000 per employee over the course of the year,” Dr. Amick says in a statement from the IWH. With the combined cost of the chair and training being about $1,000 per worker, the intervention “paid for itself in about 10 days.”

Jonathan Tyson, a certified ergonomist and a former president of the Association of Canadian Ergonomists, cautions that even the best chair will not provide its intended protections if workers get in the habit of sitting too long without moving. “If you strap someone to their chair and say, ‘Never leave [and] eat your lunch at your desk,’ then maybe you might see an initial productivity increase,” Tyson explains. But over the long term, he adds, “you’re actually going to get less out of the worker than you would if you give them a chance to get out of their seat.”

The Spine study says the number of sedentary workers, or “knowledge workers”, are increasing globally. With the onset of automation and technology, Tyson says many industries that were highly physical and manual in the past are becoming less so. “Ten or 15 years ago, a pulp mill would have had 20 or 30 people working around a paper machine,” he says, “and today they may have seven or eight.”

While some employers are recognizing the importance of ergonomic issues, Tyson suggests there is still a large portion of the pie who view this as only a physical issue. “In a lot of workplaces, the issues are not heavy lifting or awkward bending. It’s static, sedentary work postures.”

Ergonomics is about more than health and comfort, Dr. Amick says. It is “also about maximizing the use of the technologies in your office to fit the worker. It’s learning to maximize your own comfort zone.”

He also recommends integrating ergonomics into various business functions, such as wellness, health care, and operational activities. “It can’t be just one-stop shopping.”

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