 Despite
the fact it's been UK law to train computer workers in good ergonomics for
over 15 years, 70-75% of computer workers report suffering back, neck or
shoulder pain or other health problems
Clearly, even amongst those who receive it, ergonomic training on its own
isn't working!
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimate back pain, RSI and other
musculoskeletal disorders cost UK businesses at least £5.7bn per year.
That works out at over £220 per employee, each and every year. Individual
cases are estimated to average over £5000 each
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Besides these direct costs, it's also important to consider the potential
for future litigation. Whilst there have been relatively few major
compensation awards in the UK to date, such as the
award of over £150,000 plus costs to an individual who developed neck and
shoulder pain and RSI, there's no doubt from experience in
the US that this will increase in future. The recent ViewSonic @Work @Risk survey highlighted that 69% of UK
computer workers would consider legal action if they developed a work related
health problem
Besides the small minority of employees who are diagnosed with musculoskeletal
disorders and take absences due to their problems, there are a much larger
numbers of silent sufferers who rarely or never take absences, but
whose productivity and performance is undoubtedly still affected by aches and
pains
PostureMinder enables your organisation to help serious and silent sufferers
alike
By reducing the amount of time users spend sitting in poor postures,
PostureMinder reduces the likelihood of new musculoskeletal problems arising,
or existing problems returning
Whether you're looking after call centre staff, managers, consultants,
writers, designers, accountants, lawyers, scientists, programmers or data-entry
clerks, PostureMinder will help anyone who works substantial periods at a
computer reduce posture-related absences and, more importantly, improve
productivity amongst silent sufferers who are currently underperforming
due to aches and pains
PostureMinder also acts to reinforce the user's ergonomic training,
and helps them to use ergonomic furniture and equipment correctly, ensuring
that your existing investment in their health and well-being is not wasted
By reducing posture-related problems, PostureMinder should also help you to reduce
medical insurance claims and premiums, and minimise your chances of
facing compensation claims
Purchasing PostureMinder is a clear demonstration of your care for your
employees' health and well-being. It illustrates your organisation's
commitment to adopting innovative health and safety technology and emerging
best practice
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Supporting research
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The recent ViewSonic @Work
@Risk survey of 1500 UK computer workers found that:
-
71% suffer back pain, rising to 80% amongst 16-24 year olds
- 77% suffer
eye fatigue
- 67% suffer headaches
- 69% would seek compensation
from their employer if they developed a serious problem
In a survey of 320 computer workers, leading ergonomic consultants
Etcom People Engineers found that 25% described themselves as in pain or
severe pain at the time they were surveyed.
Etcom asked users to rate the effect of pain and discomfort on their working
efficiency, with startling results. The computer workers assessed themselves,
on average, to be performing 8% less efficiently than how they would work if
they were pain-free. If true, this suggests silent suffering could be
costing businesses the equivalent of 566 million lost working days every year,
or over 20 days of lost effort per employee.
Other studies have also highlighted the high prevalance of musculoskeletal
disorders amongst computer workers. For example:
-
(Suparna K, Sharma AK, Khandekar, J, 2005) studied 200 IT professionals in the
Delhi region, and found 77.5% suffered from musculoskeletal problems such as
back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain or repetitive stain injury (RSI), and 76%
with eye fatigue and other visual problems. They describe these figures as
evidence of a growing epidemic that has appeared from nowhere in a short space
of time due to the rapid development of the IT industry in India, with the
potential to drastically affect the growth of the industry as professionals
will be unable to work due to such problems
- A study of 270 clerical,
technical, call-centre and managerial staff in 15 Australian companies found
76% had experienced neck, back or upper limb pain that they felt was due to
computer use in the past year, with 46% reporting symptoms in the past week (Cook,
Burgess-Limerick, Chang 2000)
- A further study (Evans,
Patterson 2000) focused specifically on professional and managerial
staff and found that 65% of subjects reported experiencing neck or shoulder
pain or stiffness in the preceding month
- (Mulry 1990, Professional
Safety Journal) found that 80% of US citizens seek treatment for back pain at
some point in their lives, at an annual cost of $24bn in direct medical costs
alone
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