Ergonomic Injury Awareness and Prevention Guidelines

To reduce ergonomic risk, employees should:

• Become aware of the tasks you perform all day, the tools you use, and the repetitive movements required to do these tasks.
  
• Reduce or eliminate forceful movements and stressful postures. For example: Never rest your wrists on the wrist-rest or elbows on the chair armrest while typing or mousing.
  
• Hold a pipette with a straight wrist.
  
• Decrease the number of times you perform a particular motion or hold an object in the same position for long periods.
  
• Use tools and equipment that fit you. For example, tools should not cause discomfort and your chair should provide adequate low back support.
  
• Modify or eliminate "high risk" habits, such as: sitting or standing in one position for long periods of time, positioning your wrists in a non-neutral alignment, such as flexed (hand bent downward), extended (hand bent upward), or deviated (bent sideways)for long periods of time, leaning on your elbows and wrists, tilting your head downward or extending your head forward, hunching your shoulders while keying or mousing, hitting the keyboard and clicking the mouse harder than necessary, gripping tools, books, writing instruments or pointing devices too tightly.
  
• Avoid reaching and leaning.
  
• Keep most-used material close to the body; within arm's reach.
  
• Stand to reach anything above your shoulders.
  
• Keep your elbows directly under your shoulders.
  
• Design your work/hobby areas to accommodate YOU or modify a shared area before you begin work each time.   Build in as much flexibility as possible so that each worker can make adjustments when first sitting at the workstation.
  
• Avoid the temptation to work at the workstation as the last person left it because it is too much trouble to change it. Your long-range health depends on making proper adjustments.
• If you are not comfortable, do something to change your environment.   Modifications and adjustments may include: chair, work surface height, keyboard height, monitor height, arrangement of tools to minimize reaching, use of a headset, document holder/slant board, foot rest, proper corrective eyewear, or task lighting.
  
• Practice healthy habits.
  
• Sit/stand in neutral posture (shoulders back, chin tucked, head upright, elbows as close to the body as possible).
  
• Warm up before beginning a repetitive or forceful task. Flexibility exercises improve circulation and help compensate for work that must be done in awkward positions.
  
• Alternate tasks.
  
• Change your position often to relieve muscle strain.
  
• Reduce speed and force. Use the minimum required force and slow down when doing repetitive tasks.
• Stand up to stretch at least once per hour.
  
• Do not anchor your arm when writing or keyboarding (i.e., move your whole arm for either task).
• Use the whole hand and all fingers to grip, grasp, or lift.
  
• Grasp objects lightly.
  
• Alternate arms when carrying something heavy (e.g., suitcase, purse, briefcase, etc.)
  
• Drink water.
  
• Try to get enough sleep every night to wake feeling restored. This allows your body to repair damaged tissues.
  
• Be aware of stressors in your daily life and minimize as many as possible. Stressors cause you to work with excess tension and force, and will decrease the amount of restful sleep you get.
  
• Respond to your occasional aches and pains. Aches and pains are the early signs of potentially serious injuries. Living with the pain and hoping that it will go away may result in an injury that is harder to treat and slower to heal.
  
• Pay serious attention to any persistent soreness or weakness, numbness, tingling.
  
• Make changes in your habits and workstation, and treat your symptoms. Early action can solve the problem and prevent disability.