How Can We Best Measure Worker Productivity?
Can investing in employee health improve the bottom line by making workers more productive? To answer that question, companies need new and better tools for measuring employee productivity, according to an article in the September Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine....
DOL Awards Amtrak Employee $160,000 in Retaliation Case
On Aug. 26, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) ordered Amtrak to pay employee Nicole Anderson $60,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages for the retaliation she experienced after reporting an on-the-job injury...
Protecting Your Back, Neck and Arms from “Laptop-itis”
The symptoms are familiar to any employee working on the go or any student who has ever spent hours pounding out a paper on a laptop computer: an aching neck, throbbing head and tingling fingers....
EU OSHA: Workplace Health Promotion Improves Productivity, Well-Being
As part of its Workplace Health Promotion project, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is sending the following message to employers: workplace health promotion (WHP) leads to better health, reduced absenteeism, enhanced motivation and improved productivity...
Researchers Identify Incentives, Barriers to Best Practices in Ergonomics for Masonry Contractors
Researchers working with industry stakeholders found that while products, equipment and work practices already are in use by masonry contractors to reduce the rate of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among masonry workers, the decentralized nature of the industry and prevalence of small contractors has led to regional differences in their use and barriers to widespread adoption...
Falls the Leading Cause of Injury Among Older Adults in China
Falls are the most common injury for both urban and rural elderly in China, responsible for more than two-thirds of all injuries in people 65 and older, according to a new study by researchers from China and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy...
At-Home Safety: Injury Prevention Tips for Cheerleaders, Football Players
With kids preparing to go back to school and football practice already underway in many communities, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is issuing an injury prevention message about football and cheerleading...
Certified or Certifiable Is There a Difference?
What’s the difference between the winners and the “also rans” when it comes to ergonomics...
En Masse Retirements Challenge U.S. Manufacturers
As millions of boomers prepare to retire, U.S. manufacturing companies, hit harder than other sectors by the recession, now face huge costs for training new employees in the forthcoming years, according to a report by the Sloan Center on Aging at Boston College...
Take a Break From Your Office Furniture and Get Healthy
Postural, joint and muscular problems pinpointed to necks, backs, hips and knees are on the increase among workers. These problems could be attributed to poor seating posture, lack of movement in the office and inappropriate or poorly designed office furniture...
How to Build a Successful, Sustainable Ergonomic Team
The best and most effective ergonomics teams often are the ones consisting of employees, since they are in the best position to identify risks....
MSD Injuries, Health Problems Force Roofers Into Early Retirement
Sixty percent of roofers who exited the trade within 1 year left their jobs due to chronic pain, work-related musculoskeletal disorders and poor health, according to research published in the American Journal of Industrial Hygiene...
National Safety Month: Prevent Overexertion at Work and at Home
The National Safety Council (NSC) recently launched its Preventing Overexertion at Work and at Home Week during National Safety Month, an annual observance to increase education about the top causes of preventable injuries and deaths in June...
Managing Health: Is Ergonomics a Flawed Science?
Even for someone who is ambivalent about the adoption of an ergonomics standard, calling ergonomics “flawed science” is fightin’ words...
AIHce 2010: Navigating Ergonomics Management Systems
In a roundtable presentation at AIHce 2010 in Denver, several EHS professionals outlined their challenges, successes, best practices and lessons learned in establishing and sustaining ergonomics management systems...
AIHce 2010: The Future of Work and the Aging Work Force
In the May 24 Jeffrey S. Lee Lecture at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo (AIHce) in Denver, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Director John Howard addressed the changing patterns in employment brought on by an aging work force and how those changes might challenge occupational health and safety...
Ergonomic Gardening Tools
If you have ever twisted and stretched while kneeling in the flowerbed, then you know that gardening can be physically challenging. Fortunately, ergonomic tools can help gardening enthusiasts avoid aches and pains, explains an expert from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia...
Study: Declining Social Security Benefits Keep Older Men in Work Force
The decline in Social Security benefit amounts for workers who recently reached their 60s has been the leading cause of the trend toward delayed retirement of older men, a new national study suggests...
OSHA Agenda Includes Injury and Illness Prevention Program
In addition to familiar topics such as cranes and derricks, diacetyl, beryllium and crystalline silica, OSHA’s spring 2010 regulatory agenda contains some new, high-priority items – an Injury and Illness Prevention Program standard and a move to modernize the agency’s injury and illness reporting systems...
Physicist Recommends Psychology Research to Improve Mine Safety
Following the April 5 Massey Energy mine disaster, which killed 29 miners and put a spotlight on the current state of coal mine safety in the United States, the American Psychological Association (APA) held a Q&A session with a physicist to discuss how human factors science can improve mine safety...
Study: Osteoarthritis Carries High Costs in Missed Work Days
Work absences due to osteoarthritis cost U.S. employers more than $10 billion per year, according a study in the March Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine...
U.K. Agency Launches Online Tool to Help Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders
Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has announced a new, downloadable tool to help businesses and organizations reduce the likelihood of their employees suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the upper limbs associated with repetitive tasks...
Flip-Flops vs. Gray Hair: Managing Generation Clashes in the Workplace
In one corner of the office we have an experienced, competitive baby boomer. In the other, a confident, multi-tasking Generation Y employee who expects to shoot to the top and then move on – all while wearing flip-flops. When they meet, expect fireworks...
OSHA: Stay Safe While Shoveling Snow
While spring might be just around the corner, it’s still early to put away the snow shovel and sidewalk salt. A recent spate of snowstorms in the northeastern United States prompted OSHA to remind workers, employers and the general public of the hazards associated with snow removal and recovery work...
Lighting the Workplace: A Perspective for Safety and Productivity
It seems most business owners are preoccupied with keeping the lights on these days, but maybe business owners should be looking at the lights themselves. After all, the lights just don't let us see and work, they let us work more productively and safely...
