TMCnews Featured Article

The right person in the right job can do wonders for a business. In the same way, the right furniture in the right configuration can do wonders for an employee.  Different jobs require different equipment and fitting the job to the person is important for both the company and its workers. This was highlighted in an article in the December issue of Professional Safety, which noted that work-place injuries related to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and resulting costs incurred by businesses, appeared to be on the rise.

In light of the fact that MSDs are costing businesses more than $20 billion annually, authors Bruce Lyon, Georgi Popov and Kevin Hanes (News - Alert) suggest the adoption of ergonomic principles and tools in workplace design to evaluate the extent of MSD risk, and make the necessary changes in equipment, job design and layout.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, MSDs are the result of strained nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, wrongly worked body muscles, depressed cartilage and spinal discs.

It’s hard to say what exactly causes an MSD, for it’s usually an accumulation of several factors. As these disorders are often not visible to the naked eye in the way that skin injuries are, they tend to be ignored until the stage is reached where the person just cannot do any work whatsoever, or is in great pain while working.

Many employees, such as contact center agents, have to sit for extended periods of time, use headphones for most or part of the day, and stare at the computer for long stretches. Improper seating and listening equipment can (slowly, over time) cause damage to the wrists, the neck, and even the auditory organs, as well as back-aches and sore muscles.

The authors attributed MSDs at the workplace to lack of ergonomic principles, and cautioned that failure to rectify this would lead to “inherently flawed systems that are costly to retrofit and correct.”

Ergonomics is all about understanding how design and layout at the workplace can physically affect workers, quality of work, productivity and the bottom line of a company. So, pay a little more attention to the curves of the chair, the height of the table, the quality of equipment, and MSDs will soon be on the wane.