Why your business or company has serious ERGONOMICS issues? Read this.
ABDUL SHUKOR Safety At Work
Subject Matter Expert (OSH, OSHA Laws Compliance, ISO 45001 Compliance, Ergonomics, Incident Investigation). I offer practical SOLUTIONS to clients. HRD Corp Accredited Trainer.
80% of adult experience LOW BACK PAIN (LBP) in their lifetimes. It is the most common cause of JOB-RELATED DISABILITY and a leading contributor to missed work days (https://lnkd.in/fHsx-EF). 4.2 million working days were lost by the workers over 50s to back pain alone. The 35-49 age bracket were next worst affected with the 25-34s having the least amount of problems, although these still amounted to 1.89 million lost days (https://lnkd.in/fP5vkYX).
As an assessor for ergonomics risk and human factors, I always carefully analyse the 3 major elements of ERGONOMIC ISSUES or HAZARDS: 1) employees, 2) their workstations and 3) daily activities. These elements are vital in order to determine practical and correct interventions to eliminate/reduce LIKELIHOOD of body pains and long term disability.
If your workers involved in manual handling processes, repetitive motions, awkward postures, heavy loads lifting, the LIKELIHOOD of serious back pain and upper back pain is VERY HIGH indeed. Workers will suffer, productivity is affected and medical costs will increase dramatically!
Does your business have ERGONOMIC ISSUES? You might not think you do if you're not having recordable injuries, but you are likely mistaken. I SHARE WITH YOU 10 SIGNS that your business or company has serious ergonomic issues!
1. You’ve had a HIGH RATE of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) incidents over the past 6 months.
2. Many of your employees are showing signs of serious BODILY STRESS.
3. You don’t have the experience to make the necessary EFFECTIVE COUNTER MEASURES. No correct interventions are implemented.
4. You don’t have A METHOD for identifying ergonomic risk factors in your workplace.
5. You want to create a HEALTHIER and SAFER work areas but no positive outcomes are found,
6. Your workers are MODIFYING their work area/tool at will. Some workers take it upon themselves to alter their work areas/layouts at random.
7. You have to devote more and more of your bottom line to PAYING for WORK-RELATED injuries.
8. Your workers are repeatedly MASSAGING specific body parts.
9. Your workers BRING THEIR OWN hand gloves, back belts, wrist braces or foot rests.
10. You find yourself HIRING WORKERS based on body types: taller people for lifting jobs, shorter people for ground level jobs.
Abdul Shukor (Email: prof.shukor@gmail.com)
6 March 2020.