Try to uncover a consensus as to the most cost-effective way for businesses to manage workplace injury, and you will quickly see that solutions are as numerous as the questions themselves. For example, the Office Ergonomics Research Committee reports that �scientific research has not established cause-effect relationships that could provide guidelines for standardized office workstation solutions�.1
Ergonomic training programs are one viable way that companies address the need for prevention of computer related injuries and health problems.
In a review of the existing literature, Iranian researchers concluded that ergonomic training programs do provide �fruitful outcome(s) beyond their costs� 2.
Components of an Effective Ergonomic Training Program
Ergonomists at Humantech have determined that there are 4 components of successful ergonomic training programs. Specifically, they:
- target the issues of the workplace receiving the training.
- establish and meet objectives pertaining to that environment.
- utilize adult learning theory.
- target the curriculum to the specific roles of the workplace receiving the training.3
Why Workers Continue to Get Injured - The Bottom Line
Dennis Downing, of Future Industrial Technologies, an ergonomic training company says that we have "the ergonomic technology, and it gets delivered. But people are still getting repetitive stress injury�.
Downing goes on to say that in our culture there is an utter ignorance as to how one should use their body in life. He cites the example of the office worker who �has the world at their fingertips, but is sitting incorrectly.� The head weighs 10-12 pounds. The computer worker who leans forward all day is susceptible to Dowager�s Hump.
�We have not been taught basic skills on how to use our bodies. A good ergonomic program moves from the mentality of compliance to one of wanting to be healthy�, Downing concludes.4
Bibliography
1 Office Ergonomics Research Committee (OERC) Preliminary Findings. Retrieved May 11, 2005, from http://www.oerc.org/ViewPage.asp?PageID=13.
2 Alireza CHOOBINEH, Sougand TOURANI, Keivan HEIDARIAN, Faramarz GHARAHGOZLOO Ergonomic workstation evaluation in clinical laboratories of KUMS and its relationship to musculoskeletal problems and productivity. Retrieved May 3, 2005, from: http://cyberg.wits.ac.za/cyberg/sessiondocs/physical/med/med1/med1.htm.
4 Interview with Dennis Downing, April 2005.
5 Dalkilin� M.; Bumin G.; Kayihan H. The effects of ergonomic training and preventive physiotherapy in musculo-skeletal pain. The Pain Clinic, 1 June 2002, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 75-79(5) Retrieved May 11, 2005 from: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/vsp/tpc/2002/00000014/00000001/art00009
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