Preventing Office-Related Injury

April 13, 2006

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Once you are aware of the office automation-related injuries and illnesses that your employees face, you can better prevent them.

Repetitive motion problems. If your jobs require repetitive motion, you can take some steps to minimize the risk to employees who do those jobs, including making sure that:

Work stations are ergonomically correct and have:
- adjustable components
- a foot rest
- a document holder
- a wrist rest
Tools and work methods are designed properly.
Employees understand the risks of repetitive motion.
Productivity requirements are not resulting in inadequate rest breaks.

You can also consider rotating employees among different jobs to make sure that they don't have to perform the same motions all day long. Remember, the way that you arrange your computer equipment can go a long way toward avoiding computer pains.

Vision problems. Employees who must stare at computer monitors face special problems with their vision. Some ways to help minimize the risk of injury or illness include:

providing adjustable furniture and equipment, particularly at shared work stations
reducing room lighting in the area to about half of what the customary office lighting is and providing desk lamps for other work
encouraging computer operators to have a thorough eye examination every year
allowing breaks or time for tasks that don't require close concentration
shading windows to reduce glare on computer monitors
providing desk equipment so that reference materials can be placed close to the computer monitor and at the same distance from the eyes
educating employees on how prolonged staring at computer monitor screens may affect their eyes