Is your ergonomics policy working as it should?
If not, employee health suffers
Are your access employees ergonomically correct when it comes to computer and desk placement, posture, and the need to take frequent stretching breaks?
To ensure that its staff can answer "yes" to that question, ScrippsHealth in San Diego has moved into high gear with its Ergonomic Work Site and Job Duty Evaluation Policy, says Vicky Tickel, government billing manager. Increasing staff awareness of the policy was prompted in part by ScrippsHealth’s need to establish documentation of its practices for certification to the ISO 9002 quality management standard, Tickel says.
"We’re educating staff so they’re aware of signs [of repetitive-stress injury] and of what to do throughout the day to prevent injury," she adds. (See tips on preventing injury, p. 117.)
Employees encouraged to be proactive
The goal is for employees to alert managers at the first sign of problems, not to wait until the damage has been done, Tickel says.
"We’re not all the way there," she notes. "We have some old desks, and not all have been updated." However, "all have been evaluated, and we have ordered enough equipment to get to the point that employees are comfortable." One goal is to move toward more paperless procedures, because having more space on a desk is an ergonomic advantage, she notes.
Solutions are tailored to employees’ needs, Tickel explains. In the case of one woman who was on and off the job with workers’ compensation claims, an egg timer was used. "When it went off, it would prompt her to get up and do stretches and hand exercises, which were modified specifically for her."
In some instances, follow-up workstation evaluations are done, she notes. "Maybe we did an ergonomic review, ordered the equipment necessary, and the employee is still having problems," Tickel says. "We ask a physical therapist to come and see if [the employee] is sitting properly, if the desk is at the proper height and the computer at the proper location on the desk."
Under consideration is a computer screen saver that periodically flips into an ergonomics program, alerting the employee that it’s time to stretch or do hand exercises, she says.
The organization’s Ergonomic Work Site and Job Duty Evaluation policy gives detailed instructions on when evaluations should be conducted, who’s responsible for doing them, and which department should be charged for any expenses incurred — when a physical therapist is called in, for example.
Conduct evaluations periodically
The policy calls for conducting evaluations in the following situations:
• during a new employee’s orientation to work site or duties;
• when requested by a manager in response to an employee inquiry;
• when an employee’s work site and/or job description significantly changes;
• during the planning stages of a work site remodel or new construction;
• when two or more employees have been diagnosed with repetitive motion injuries in a 12-month period;
• when a workers’ compensation request is made for an evaluation following the filing of an accident report.
Forms keep track of changes
The policy notes that a significant change in an employee’s work site could involve a change of location and/or in the equipment used to perform the job. A change in job duty could involve a change in activity or in the amount of pushing, pulling, lifting, and/or carrying expected.
There are instructions on how to complete Video Display Terminal Work Site and Job Duty evaluation forms. (See excerpt, p. 116.)
Even though each employee workstation has been ergonomically reviewed, Tickel is looking into getting a couple of complete ergonomic work stations in which every aspect is exactly as it should be.
"We would bring these in on a test basis, for employees to try, and if they work out, we might look at getting them for all the employees," she adds. One issue that needs to be addressed, she notes, is the lack of work space on the desks. "We might move things overhead to give them more work room."
Meanwhile, reorganizing daily work tasks so an employee is not concentrating on one activity for too long can help prevent the triggering of repetitive motion problems, Tickel points out. "Maybe the employee can do some electronic billing in the morning, and then kick into follow-up [activity], making phone calls," she explains. "Then they can do more billing in the afternoon."
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