How to Use Ergonomic Assessments to Avoid Common Ergonomic Risks

Challenge #1: Musculoskeletal Disorders

MSDs remain one of the costliest problems that ergonomists, employers, and workers face in 2022. As an injury category, MSDs account for more than a third of workplace injuries resulting in missed time, and total costs for MSDs across the nation reach up to $54 billion annually. Common MSDs suffered in the workplace include sprains, strains, tears, back issues, hernias, and other bodily reactions to external forces or interactions with the work environment. MSDs can be caused by a wide range of factors such as overexertion, repeated strain, lifting weights overhead, completing repetitive tasks with short task cycles (less than 30 seconds), and performing strenuous tasks in cramped spaces.

Ergonomic assessments can prevent MSDs and help employers reduce the associated costs by identifying environmental factors that contribute to injury risk. Likewise, an effective ergonomic evaluation should include an analysis of how individual workers perform their job tasks, identifying issues with tools or equipment that might lead to risk. Further, an assessment will identify problems with workers’ behavior—postures, work positions, task techniques—that can generate injury risk. Photo and video analysis, or virtual assessment using videoconferencing software, are excellent tools for identifying MSD risks in employees’ behavior.

Challenge #2: Repetitive stress injuries

Repetitive stress injuries, or RSIs, are a common subset of MSDs that occur when employees’ bodies are strained by quick tasks and motions that are repeated over a short time frame. Common RSIs include Carpal tunnel syndrome, in which inflammation of wrist tendons puts pressure on the median nerve, along with epicondylitis, better known as tennis elbow. Tendinitis is a general category (inflammation of the body’s connective soft tissues) also falls under the RSI banner.

Ergonomic risk assessments can identify tasks and processes that require repetitive motions. It’s important to note that there are healthy, safe ways to accomplish tasks that require repetitive motions, and that these types of injuries occur because employees are performing tasks with poor posture or technique, or because they are using tools that are poorly matched to the worker. A thorough evaluation of workstations and tools will allow safety leaders to replace outdated equipment and provide better training that is more targeted to the specific tasks and risk factors workers are experiencing.

Challenge #3: Fatigue

Safety leaders know that ergonomics, biomechanics, injury risk levels, and employee performance are interrelated factors. Another essential element in that equation is fatigue. Fatigue is not simply a feeling of tiredness, sleepiness, or lack of energy—it’s the direct result of a specific problem: a lack of adequate restful sleep. Fatigue exacerbates virtually all forms of injury risk in the workplace because fatigued workers are impaired in a similar fashion to a drunk driver. Fatigued workers are less able to concentrate on tasks, are more likely to become distracted, and are more likely to suffer an accident. Ergonomic risks increase with fatigue as well, making it more likely for employees to use unsafe task techniques and postures, which can lead to injuries. In terms of employer budgets, fatigue generates some $136 billion in costs per year in lost productivity alone, roughly $1,200 to $3,100 per employee per year.

Ergonomic assessments are uniquely well-positioned to tackle fatigue problems. These risk evaluations are based on uncovering the factors that lead to fatigue, from the worksites where tasks are performed to the HR offices where safety policies are set. Fatigue has just as much to do with task and tool design as it does with scheduling and rostering practices. After an ergonomic assessment has been taken for the workplace, safety leaders can design schedules that limit consecutive shift work and help workers get better and more sleep.