Ergonomics

ERGONOMICS

Ergonomics as it is applied to work is fitting the task to the

person. It deals with the interaction of work, technology and
humans. Ergonomics applies human scienceslike anatomy,
psychology and psychology to the design of the work environment
and jobs, and objects and equipment used in work.

IMPORTANCE

Ergonomics focuses on people This particular concept is

considered to be people oriented
Performance and productivity enhancement- Whenever
comprehensive ergonomics is applied at workplace performance of
the employees tends to increase and which improve overall
effectiveness and productivity of the organization.
Training and development- Ergonomics may be inborn but people
still need to be aware about how to use features by keeping in
mind how some behaviors increase risk of injury.
Higher saving- Good ergonomics programs always generates more
benefits in terms of both monitory and non-monitory terms and
reduces overall expenses for both organizations as well as for
employees.

ERGONOMICS FOCUS

TOOLS

WORK
ER

TASKS

WORK
STATION AND
ENVIRONMENT

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When focusing on the tool, the task, and the environment

organization tends to find the best combination for their
employees (the user/operator).
If the right combination is not attained then ergonomic problems
may arise which may lead to overall downfall in organizational
productivity which may result in immediate or long-term damage
to muscles, nerves, tendons, and joints.
So, if proper workplace is not developed it may lead to
employees injury which in turn increases employees
absenteeism, leave and turnover or reduction in their performance
and thus affecting overall organizational productivity and working.

EFFECTS OF ERGONOMICS

1. Cumulative Trauma Disorders: - A cumulative trauma

disorder (CTD), is defined as the excessive damage of tendons,
muscles and sensitive nerve tissue caused by continuous use over
an extended period of time. CTDs can develop from improper work
positioning, repetition or force during the course of work.
At the place of work it is generally caused by:Awkward posture and position like bent wrists, elbows held away
from the body, outstretched arms or slumped shoulders
Repetitive action from typing, keying and sorting operations
Use of excessive force when typing ergonomically designed
system and taught position.

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REPETITIVE STRAIN INJURIES: - also known as repetitive stress

injury is a general term encompassing injuries that affect tendons,
muscles, nerves and soft tissues.

These types of injuries cause continual and recurring pain most

often in the neck, shoulders, hands, wrists and lower limbs and
which takes a savior face with time.

Jobs that require employees to perform the same type of task over
a period of time, including working on assembly lines or using a
computer all day, can result in RSIs.

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At

Musculoskeletal Disorders or MSDs are injuries and disorders

that affect the human bodys movement or musculoskeletal
systemlike muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, blood vessels. It
is also called repetitive motion injury, repetitive stress injury, overuse
injury and many more. It implicates a singular cause for damage to the
musculoskeletal system repetition and stress.
Common MSDs include:
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Tendonitis
Muscle / Tendon strain
Ligament Sprain
Tension Neck Syndrome
workplace it is generally caused by:-
High task repetition
Work which has extra body force
Repetitive or sustained awkward position

ER

MEASURES TO CONTROL
ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL

Administrative controls aims at modifying scheduling of

work which in turns reduces the ergonomic risk factor for
betterment of employees health. It can be better attained
by altering the way work is done in order to reduce the side
effect of workplace hazard.
Employee rotation/job task enlargement
Adjust work pace
Designing the work
Breaks

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WORK PRACTICE CONTROL
Work Practice Controls may be defined as the measure that helps to
control and give better exposure to the way a job or physical
activities are performed in order to reduce the factor of MSD at work.
It develops a proper standard and procedure for safe and proper way
of doing work which needs to be followed at all levels within the
organization.
Some of the ways are as follows: The work techniques could include proper positions and angles when
sitting at your computer station to standing and performing tasks.
Training recognition of hazards and work techniques that can reduce
exposure or ease task demands and burdens.
Supervise the employees performing the tasks to ensure understood
the training and are performing correctly. If not provide additional
training.

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ENGINEERING CONTROLS

Engineering controls may be defined as the physical change or upgradation to the job that enables managers and organization to control
exposure to MSD. Such measures do not depend on the employees to
take self protective measures.
It basically coves 2 types :Standard way:- which cover following ways
Adjustable workstations
Adjustable chair
Footrests can be purchased and are adjustable to different angles.
Some monitors are adjustable
Innovative way:- Cut legs off the desks or add blocks under the
workstation to raise the height. Build a foot rest or use a large book for
a foot rest. Put a book under the monitor to raise it to the proper
height. Build a platform to stand on so get to proper height.

HOW TO SETUP AN ERGONOMICALLY CORRECT WORKSTATION

Adjust chair height so that your feet are flat on the floor.This enables the
employees knees and hips at the same level. Secondly adjust your elbow and
bent it between 90 and 110 degree. Forearms should be parallel to the ground
and wrist should be kept at a neutral position. Since most desks are fixed height,
it is best to adjust the chair height for the correct position of the arms and hands.
Keep your wrist position neutral.Avoid bending your wrist sharply up or
down to type.
Change your posture regularly.Regardless of how healthy your work posture
is, sitting in any one position for an extended period is not healthy. If you have an
adjustable chair, alternate between the positions.
keep the monitor between 20 and 40 inches (50 and 100 centimeters)
from your face.This will reduce eye strain. If the depth of your desk doesnt
allow this, move your monitor to a corner, request a flat screen monitor (if
applicable), or purchase an attachable computer tray to create a deeper working
surface.
Adjust the monitor so that the center sits at eye level.The monitor should
always be directly in front of your face (preferably no more than 35 degrees to
either side) and at or slightly below eye level.

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Place the mouse near the keyboard.Keep it in a position

that will enable you to transition between typing and using the
mouse with as little effect on your arm and wrist posture as
possible.
Arrange items within sight and reach.Place your phone,
writing equipment, books and other frequently-used items
within easy reach from where you sit. You should not need to
stretch to reach frequently used objects.

IMPROVING ERGONOMICS PROCESS

Develop aprioritized list of jobsfor ergonomic analysis.This prioritized
list should be developed by the ergonomics team based on an initial facility
tour, review of MSD history and data collected by employee surveys.
Conductobjective ergonomic analysis.This analysis will objectively
measure risk for each job in the workplace and help you develop an ergonomic
opportunity list.
Develop anergonomic opportunity listDeveloping an ergonomic
opportunity list allows you to prioritize company resources in order to
effectively and efficiently reduce risk by putting the appropriate controls in
place.
Determine best solution with team approach.A multi-disciplinary team
should be involved in determining the best controls for implementation.
Obtain approvaland implement solution.If the improvement requires a
significant capital expenditure, cost-justify the solution to gain approval.
Evaluate impactof the ergonomic improvement.Once improvements are
in place, close the loop on the project by evaluating the ergonomic
improvement and measuring its effectiveness.

About DELL

Dell Inc.is an American privately ownedmultinational computer

technology company based inRound Rock, Texas, United States,
that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related
products and services.Eponymously namedafter its
founder,Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest
technological corporations in the world, employing more than
103,300 people worldwide.
They are relentlessly focused on delivering technology solutions
that work harder for our customers, and gives access to technology
to people and organizations around the world. Their purpose
-"delivering technology solutions that enable people everywhere to
growand thrive are and their commitment to all of our customers.
Todays Dell is a customer-inspired end-to-end solutions provider.
They evolved from a PC manufacturer to a true IT solutions partner
one that offers a differentiated view of the enterprise.

GAP ANALYSIS
We observed following GAPS in our analysis with the DELLs employee
1) WORKING HOURS: - Company has high working time which enabled the
employees to sit more hours at computers which are negatively affecting
the health of the employees.
2) CHAIRS: - Company does not provide ergonomically designed chairs to all
its employees. We observed that several employees especially with the
short height were unable to have flat feet on the floor which clearly
defined organization is not much concerned about this particular area.
3) AWARENESS:- Most of the employees within the organization especially
those who are involved in physical activity are not aware about
ergonomically way of doing it and we had a conversation with one of the
employees about his body condition to which he said he is suffering from
shoulder pain. Which clearly shows organization is least concerned about
the health of such employees and at the same time those employees are
not aware about the principal of ergonomics.

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4) HABITUAL: - We closely observed few body postures of employees
who were having back office work (desk job). We analyzed that
many individuals incautiously were following wrong body gestures
which were adversely affecting their body.
5) TOOLS: - Many tools equipped by the organization were not
ergonomically supportive i.e. many tools were not actually
positioned or used in the right way which was resulting in low
efficiency and productivity of the organizational working.
6) MEASURES:- organization havent taken any effective measure like
administrative control or work practice control measures in order to
overcome ergonomics within the organization working environment.
Such measures are less costly and can be easily implemented.

SUGGESTIONS

In order to overcome the upper GAPs following measures can

be taken by the organization:1) In order to overcome working hour problem firm can opt for
flexible timing and should allow small break between works. It
is always advisable to take 1 or 2 minute breaks after every 30
minutes while performing stationary type jobs. It is also
preferred to move around after every few hours of work.

2) In order to overcome this firm should place chair which allow

flexibility of height so that the feet are flat on the floor.This
enables the employees knees and hips at the same level.
Secondly adjust your elbow and bent it between 90 and 110
degree. Forearms should be parallel to the ground and wrist
should be kept at a neutral position.

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Special sessions should be conducted by the organization to

make its employees aware and practice also to work on
ergonomics principals and standards to improve overall
efficiency.

4) Organization should regularly monitor ergonomics measures

to measure effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in
order to provide risk free organizational working and to achieve
maximum productivity.

CONCLUSION

Ergonomics aims to make the job fit the person, rather than
the other way around. That means it is, by definition, a very
individualized approach to designing tools, tasks and work
areas. Each individual body is different in terms of size, shape
and capability. Each of us uses different tools and movements
and sits, stands and moves in different positions in the course
of a day, So as to adapt jobs to people and not force people to
fit their jobs. If individual ignore symptoms for too long that will
affect their working capabilities to perform their respective job.
So both individuals as well as organization need to put
attention on whats the best possible way a job can be
performed. Try to identify what causes pain, numbness or other
symptoms. Supervisors to make sure you have a workplace
that's free of ergonomic hazards.

THANK YOU