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

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

Supporting research

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