Imagine if the job that people had to complete made them constantly stressed and eventually caused them to suffer easily preventable serious injuries such as Musculoskeletal Disorders or Repetitive Strain Injuries while they were working! What would be the outcome of this worker? How would they perform their task? If certain hazards in the working space and environment surrounding the worker were ignored, this person would perform their task inefficiently, forced down by an enormous work load or fast moving work load, which would constantly replace the worker’s positive morale with overshadowing stress, on a daily basis, increase the exposure of the worker to dangerous and very serious injuries, eventually costing the company a huge amount of money for injury payment or compensation and easily decrease the safety of every worker in that company. Not only is ignoring ergonomic principles and hazards putting the safety of the person/worker in jeopardy, it is also reducing the quality of work they perform, therefore causing a delay and stoppage in the movement and productivity of the company, and use up a whole lot of useful and available time for the workers and the company as a whole, to work efficiently, which could have made each employee a useful and valuable factor of the movement and productivity of the company. Certain environmental, mental and social factors and ergonomic hazards can come into play, that can increase discomfort and stresses/strains in the worker such as, stress, mental flexibility/adaptation, how workers interact with each other, and how much supervision or “watch” do they have, the noise, temperature and lighting that surround them. Environmental factors like noise can easily distract the worker from their job and can easily increase their stress levels, while temperature adjustments in the workplace can restrict blood flow and cause numbness and movement difficulties in the worker. By using simple ergonomic principles such as analyzing the task and simplifying it to increase efficiency, remembering to take 10-15 minute work breaks for stretching, when a small feeling of discomfort, pain or stress arises, taking longer rest breaks and relaxation breaks, working at an appropriate speed and pace, without too much of a workload at a certain, short period, providing adequate and proper training for each worker, matching them to their job, giving them the needed skills for the job to prevent self-injury, and by improving the workspace/work environment to increase the comfort and reduce risk of injury to the worker such as using desks and chairs, ergonomically designed and adjusted for the worker, reducing the amount of distracting or loud noises around the worker, reducing repetitive tasks down by the person every day, allow a proper amount of lighting for the worker’s environment and adjust a proper room temperature to increase blood flow/circulation, creates equal benefits for both the employees and the employers, and can reduce preventable stress and strains in the working employee, helping the employers follow government policies that increase the safety, comfort and productivity of their work environment. What is the best thing about these easy improvements? You don’t apply them only to the workspace! These improvements can be applied to any task or routine that puts your body to work, even if you are a local mover or just a house mom facing everyday chores! Ergonomic principles are useful to reduce stress, and increase comfort and efficiency in everyday life, to help people reduce the stress, strain while increasing comfort, productivity and efficiency in their everyday tasks. Now imagine the worker whose job made them constantly stressed, and caused them to suffer preventable MSD(s) or RSI(s), now, working with simplified tasks, a modified workspace with proper temperature, lighting and noise adjustments for their job, and an organized system of deadlines and projects. Now, how would the worker perform? What would be the result of these improvements?
Ergonomics and The Worker:
Imagine if the job that people had to complete made them constantly stressed and eventually caused them to suffer easily preventable serious injuries such as Musculoskeletal Disorders or Repetitive Strain Injuries while they were working! What would be the outcome of this worker? How would they perform their task? If certain hazards in the working space and environment surrounding the worker were ignored, this person would perform their task inefficiently, forced down by an enormous work load or fast moving work load, which would constantly replace the worker’s positive morale with overshadowing stress, on a daily basis, increase the exposure of the worker to dangerous and very serious injuries, eventually costing the company a huge amount of money for injury payment or compensation and easily decrease the safety of every worker in that company. Not only is ignoring ergonomic principles and hazards putting the safety of the person/worker in jeopardy, it is also reducing the quality of work they perform, therefore causing a delay and stoppage in the movement and productivity of the company, and use up a whole lot of useful and available time for the workers and the company as a whole, to work efficiently, which could have made each employee a useful and valuable factor of the movement and productivity of the company. Certain environmental, mental and social factors and ergonomic hazards can come into play, that can increase discomfort and stresses/strains in the worker such as, stress, mental flexibility/adaptation, how workers interact with each other, and how much supervision or “watch” do they have, the noise, temperature and lighting that surround them. Environmental factors like noise can easily distract the worker from their job and can easily increase their stress levels, while temperature adjustments in the workplace can restrict blood flow and cause numbness and movement difficulties in the worker. By using simple ergonomic principles such as analyzing the task and simplifying it to increase efficiency, remembering to take 10-15 minute work breaks for stretching, when a small feeling of discomfort, pain or stress arises, taking longer rest breaks and relaxation breaks, working at an appropriate speed and pace, without too much of a workload at a certain, short period, providing adequate and proper training for each worker, matching them to their job, giving them the needed skills for the job to prevent self-injury, and by improving the workspace/work environment to increase the comfort and reduce risk of injury to the worker such as using desks and chairs, ergonomically designed and adjusted for the worker, reducing the amount of distracting or loud noises around the worker, reducing repetitive tasks down by the person every day, allow a proper amount of lighting for the worker’s environment and adjust a proper room temperature to increase blood flow/circulation, creates equal benefits for both the employees and the employers, and can reduce preventable stress and strains in the working employee, helping the employers follow government policies that increase the safety, comfort and productivity of their work environment. What is the best thing about these easy improvements? You don’t apply them only to the workspace! These improvements can be applied to any task or routine that puts your body to work, even if you are a local mover or just a house mom facing everyday chores! Ergonomic principles are useful to reduce stress, and increase comfort and efficiency in everyday life, to help people reduce the stress, strain while increasing comfort, productivity and efficiency in their everyday tasks. Now imagine the worker whose job made them constantly stressed, and caused them to suffer preventable MSD(s) or RSI(s), now, working with simplified tasks, a modified workspace with proper temperature, lighting and noise adjustments for their job, and an organized system of deadlines and projects. Now, how would the worker perform? What would be the result of these improvements?
Videos about the importance of ergonomics:
1. Dr. Ergo:
2. Ergonomics and Design :
3. Office Ergonomics:
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