Reducing stress through good Ergonomics Designs
Imagine this scenario.
Dana finished up writing a proposal late in the afternoon and she closes from work. About half an hour later, she started feeling pain in her neck, on the right side. It felt like the kind of pain you get after a long nights sleep. She thinks it is strange to show up in the afternoon but stretching it out seemed a good remedy as the pain subsided. But a few hours later, Dana experiences an excruciating pain. She could not move her head. She decided to go to the emergency room, where she is diagnosed with occipital nerve damage, caused by repetitive neck contraction, flexion, or extension.
The cause of this? Poor workplace ergonomics
Ergonomics is the design of the workplace, equipment, machine tool, product, environmental and system, taking into consideration the human’s physical, physiological, biomechanical, and psychological capabilities, and optimizing the effectiveness and productivity of work systems while assuring the safety, health, and well being of the workers — Jeff Fernandez (1995), Ergonomics in the workplace
Essentially, ergonomics describes the relationship between humans, machine systems, job design and the work environment.
Ergonomics has two main focus, which often overlap:
Industrial ergonomics is concerned with the physical aspects of work, such as force, posture, and repetitive movements.
Human Factor ergonomics deals with the psychological aspects of work such as mental well-being and decision making.
Ergonomics is one of the strategies that companies can utilize to minimize work stress. Therefore, in the process of designing a workstation, ergonomic factories should be taken into consideration. Failing to apply ergonomic principles at work could result in emotional depression, physical exhaustion, and decrease in productivity and product quality.
When designing workstations, it is important to consider the human variable, in terms of body posture and health; the machine, in regards to tools suitability and maintenance; the work area, including the working chair and work area design; the work environment, including humidity, acoustics, lighting, shift work and working hours.
Poor ergonomics can cause work stress
Body posture can lead to work stress. If you are static for a long period of time, it is likely to cause a shortage of blood flow to your tendons, which will result in fatigue and strain. Another example is stress from constantly working with hands above shoulder level. Stress related to body posture could also be triggered by neck, shoulder, arm, thigh and knee problems.
Extreme heat in the workplace can also act as a stressor. It can cause mental depression and can affect work performance. Moreover, extreme cold impacts mental abilities and eventually leads to absenteeism and non-performance. Workers will commonly complain about discomfort resulting from extreme environments, which, if not properly addressed, could cause job dissatisfaction.
Extreme noise is also a common stressor in the workplace, especially among blue collar workers. Noise from the telephone ringing, piped-in background music, loud telephone conversations could all affect the focus of employees.
High levels of glare and minimum light can cause eye strain and lead to stress in the workplace.
Additionally, shift work has been identified as a work stressor. Shift work can cause insomnia, problems in the digestive system and could impede mental functions. Long working hours and inadequate rest can result in chronic fatigue. Indeed, chronic fatigue and stress are contributing factors to workplace accidents.
Work stress resulting from poor ergonomic design should be avoided because it affects employee abilities to perform well and thus affect productivity levels. Steps should therefore be taking to reduce stress through good job design.
- Minor adjustments to table, chairs, machines and other apparatus could reduce pain and stress and make the work environment more comfortable. For example, adjustable chairs and chairs with armrests can help minimize strains in the neck, shoulder and arm muscles.
- Appropriate lightening plays an important role in reducing work stress.
- Design jobs so that work demands meet capabilities. For example, modify the job, share the workload, set reasonable deadlines and quality standards.
- Provide suitable rest breaks, give enough notice for people to prepare when hours of work changed, provide flexible working arrangements.
- Improve workplace consultation and employee participation in decision making
- Establish a suitable leadership that will delegate, encourage participating and initiative, enhance cooperation and teamwork, and make clear the organizations objectives.
- Provide training and information about risks to mental health from stress.
- Provide a process for reporting and responding to reports of stress, including ways to identify early signs of stress.
Organizations should target a good ergonomic design for improved health and mental functioning of their workers. A good ergonomic work environment also increases productivity, employee engagement and the quality of work.
Practicing good ergonomics while working from home
Most of you will be working from home during this period. Good ergonomics in the temporary work at home situation will reduce discomfort, pain and injury and improve your ability to focus. There is no ideal set up that applies to every person because everyone’s interaction with their work environment is different. However, there are acceptable guidelines for all work from home situations.
Importantly, be aware of the interaction between your body and work set up to avoid developing chronic pain or injury.
- Take frequent breaks to move around and get the blood flowing
- Attend to personal needs for eating, hydration, washroom, fresh air, light rest and rejuvenation, etc. Take your breaks and lunch away from your work
- Try to work in one area if possible, to maintain the boundary between work and home
- Try to put work away when you are done for the day. This will help you avoid working all the time and lower the stress of seeing your work in your personal space
- Establish a ritual to signal your brain and body that you are done with work. For example, you could put your work away by 5pm, get up and say, “I am finished work for today”. This will help create a shift in thoughts between work and personal life
- Try to minimize noise and distractions as much as possible
- Listen to calm music to help improve mood or focus. Earbuds or headphones are recommended to block out other noise
- Ensure that materials and equipment for carrying out tasks are positioned within reach. If you have to stretch your arm to reach an item, use good body mechanics, a tool or get up to reach the item
- Make use of natural light or general lighting. Optimize lighting needed for your task
- Avoid glare. Move to a different location, tilt or move a computer screen slightly if needed
- Maintain neutral posture of your neck if using a telephone. Avoid cradling the phone between the ear and shoulder
- Make use of earbuds, speaker phone, headset if phone calls are expected to be long. This allows you get up and walk around on the call
- For video conference meetings, ensure comfortable seating with a solid surface to place the screen and camera on
- Avoid typing on your lap or walking with the camera on as this is very distracting to others on the call
If you are using a computer to work:
- Be aware of your posture. Try not to slouch
- Try to maintain a neutral posture when possible
- Support your arms in a comfortable position, keeping them fairly close to the body with elbows bent, relax your shoulders
- Ensure that your keyboard is positioned in a way your wrists are straight as possible when typing
- Your screen or monitor should be placed in a way that will ensure your neck is in a neutral position (top of the screen should be at seated eye level)
- Rest your eyes by looking away from the screen every 5 minuets and focusing on something a few metres away or off the distance
- Take frequent breaks from typing repetitively or using your mouse
- Do hand and wrist stretches and exercises daily
Instead of a computer, you may be using a laptop:
- Ensure your laptop is not on a high surface. You could experience tension in your neck if your arms are too high and your shoulders are raised towards your ears
- Try using an external keyboard, mouse and monitor or connect your laptop to your television and use the television as a monitor and your laptop as your keyboard
- Monitor should not be too far away
- Increase your font size or magnification to reduce eye strain and craning your neck
When you are performing tasks that requires you to sit:
- Use an adjustable chair, a pillow, cushion, folded blanket or towels to raise your body
- Try working in a balanced position with neutral posture
- Use a comfortable seat that is not too hard or too soft and the seat should have a backrest
- Position visual tasks in a way that allows the neck and back to stay in vertical alignment
- Avoid lifting materials and transferring loads when sitting
- Alternate between standing, sitting, and walking and between various sitting and standing postures
(Source: Temporary Work at home Ergonomics Guideline. Prepared by Liz Horvath, Mental Health Commission of Canada).
Organizations that are able to successfully create and sustain an office environment that promotes good mental health are more likely to minimize the negative financial impact that can result from absenteeism, high staff turnover, workers compensation, claims and low morale.
Here at PAT Consulting, we provide research and training on ways to improve the workplace. Send us an email: info@patnigeria.com
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