The report provides an extensive analysis of the benefits an ergonomic workstation in relation to the advantages that come from investing in a well and properly designed workstation. It also provides the analysis of the results of a research conducted using a structured data collection by the use of questionnaire targeting a group of employees of a particular company. The questionnaire is designed to determine a number of factors that contribute to a workstation being ergonomic. Therefore, the results will be based on factors such as pain on the wrist hand, back and the neck emanating from straining, lighting and ventilation in their offices, the office comfortability from the furniture installed , the sick leave days , the turn over rates to determine how ergonomic workstations are and how it contributes to the benefits of the company. The report will also provide a brief analysis of the common barriers that inhibit many companies from embracing ergonomics the work places.
Introduction
The workplace design is imperative in ensuring the proper harnessing of an employee’s potential by achieving optimal results. When a worker is engaged in a particular task, his or her body is prone to get stressed by uncomfortable postures, extremely high or low temperatures or movements which occur repeatedly and may hurt the musculoskeletal system. It is therefore important to embrace and incorporate ergonomics in the workstations to achieve the desired maximum results. An ergonomic workstation might lead to improved a company’s competitiveness in the global market space as well as provide better experiences for the employees.
Benefits of an ergonomic work station
Generally, in an ergonomic workstation, the workers are healthy and are with a high working spirit, which facilitates optimal results(Hendrick 420). There are many benefits that a company may accrue from setting a workstation ergonomically, which include the reduction of costs. Notably, many companies incur losses in costs that relate to ergonomic risk factors. Health factors such as pains and injuries cause the employees to seek off days, compensation, claims among others, which are charged to the company(Hendrick 422).
Direct costs such as the medical treatment, insurance premiums, and the prescription costs affect the company’s profits by diverting the money and resources to these costs especially when they are in large numbers. Other indirect costs that include increased absenteeism and presenteeism, orientation and training costs, advertising and recruitment costs when employers fail to return to work, and replacement of workers costs among others. These indirect costs are approximated to be significantly higher than the direct costs affecting the cost savings of a company. The solution to reducing these costs is achievable if a workstation is set ergonomically(Hendrick 422).
An ergonomic workstation ensures the improvement of the quality of products and services produced by most companies(Hendrick 425). Poorly designed workstations with poor ergonomics lead to fatigue, frustration, decreased morale among the workers. As a result, they tend to work to complete the duties assigned to them without utilizing much of their potential and skills, which ultimately leads to compromising the quality of the products and services in companies and organizations. Additionally, when the jobs assigned to them are mentally demanding or physically taxing, caused by the overuse or misuse of the bodies due to extended working hours the employees do not exhaust their ability to work as per their training thus may affect the quality.
An ergonomic workstation enables the productivity of organizations(Hendrick 427). Maximum performance is achieved when the design of workstation and the job allows for an appropriate posture, effective reaches and heights, lesser motions and fewer exertion. When the measures above are taken into consideration, which are the popular causes of the musculoskeletal disorder, the employees are likely to become more efficient and productive, which results to greater job satisfaction and facilitate the proper exhaustion and exploration of the potential.
Furthermore, a workstation that is ergonomically designed enables the creation of a culture safety in most of the organizations and companies. The design in which a workplace is organized speaks volumes about how a company is committed to promoting the safety and the health of its workforce(Hendrick, 427). Employees felt more appreciated and catered for, as their safety is a priority, thus, they will be more comfortable and work to meet the goals of the company. For example, firms note and appreciate that workers often come in different sizes, and thus proper ergonomics allow the company to make individuals comfortable in their respective places of work. Also, it also adds value and improves the engagement of the employee as when they do not experience discomfort, fatigue, and frustration while working, the rates of turn over reduces significantly, increases their morale, and also decreases the levels of absenteeism and presenteeism, increase the engagement as well as the productivity.
Reducing body strain and pain to improve productivity
According to the report, it indicates that in many organizations, the use of computers is inevitable since they are essential in the execution of duties and as such, the design, position and the size of this equipment are critical in ensuring maximum productivity among the employees. The report indicates that an ergonomic workstation helps to minimize the factors that contribute significantly to the muscle, soft tissues injuries as well as pain in the hands, wrist and the back. Notably, the pain and the injuries identified are caused by too much straining of the body due to the poorly designed workstation, and the unfavorable sizes and positioning of the equipment(Workineh 4).The report shows, there have been minimal cases of people who suffer from pain in the wrist or the hand meaning that they will be in a position to work efficiently. This would imply that the particular company has invested in the padded wrists rests that minimizes the pain from straining the hands ad the wrists.
Additionaly, in the past one year, they have not been cases of people who have suffered from muscle and soft injuries which is a further indication that their workstation is organized ergonomically.Therefore, to achieve an ergonomic workstation, the report stated that it is crucial to incorporate furniture that is ergonomic, as well for the maximum benefit regarding the worker’s health and ultimately maximum productivity.
In addition, the report identifies that most of the employees in a workforce complain of neck and backaches, which has been traced to poor sitting positions due to the lack of a good base for computers. Placing a desk ergonomically enables the computer to provide a user with the much comfort hence increased productivity. Additionally, an ergonomically organized workstation offers the users chairs that offer the proper position of the body and extends lumbar and body support due to the reduced back strain . The report identifies that out of the eight participants, only one complained of an uncomfortable sitting (Workineh7).
Besides, the study shows that looking at the computer monitor for an extended period causes strain to the user. The report shows that these participants use the recommended size of the mouse which enhances the user to use it effectively as it reduces pain assoiated with those that are extreme in sizes. Additionally, using ergonomic computer accessories such as glare or monitor filters reduces the brightness caused by the computer screen, thus protecting the eyes from damage as a result of much straining. In the report, few people have been reported to have eye problems which can be attributed to the measures to use glare and monitor filters which reduces eye strain (Workineh 9).
The typing stand of the computer at the workplace, when placed ergonomically ensures an easy time for the user to work efficiently by reducing the neck strain caused by looking up and down especially when typing as it ensures the document remain at an eye level. This has ensured that their sitting position while working has facilitated the extreme comfort as identified in the study enhancing proper functioning of the company.
Moreover, it identified that in many cases, the importance of lighting is overly underestimated in a workstation. The report indicated that an ergonomic workstation requires an the artificial lighting to be bright enough but not so much to wash out the computer monitor as it may cause adverse effects the user’s eyes(Can et al 452). The report also indicates that poor lighting in workstations and from the computer monitors which increasingly leads to people complaining of mild headaches and eventually resulting in using of special eye lenses to enable them to work properly(Can et al 452). In this case, the station seems to be havesuffiecient artificial and natural light which enables the workers to work well , and their eyes are rarely affected. The report identifies that the ventillatio in most of the company is sufficient to ensure a free circulation of air contributing to freshness to enable the staff to perform well.
Additionally, noise causes distraction interfering with the job executions of a worker due to lower concentration and decreased performance especially if they are constant. A prudent way to avoid such noise and distraction, solid doors, especially in closed space offices, help in maintaining focus on the tasks at hand thus producing quality. Cleanliness and freshness in an office facilitate higher levels of performance as it helps workers to maintain mental novelty and health as compared to messy workstations, thus, as part of workstation ergonomics, it should also be a priority.
The management at times overlooks the safety and the comfort of the employees and deliberately fails to incorporate ergonomics for the staff. In this case, the company’s management has focused on investing heavily in the ergonomics of the company which has resulted in less sick leaves and injuries related to working equipment. According to the report, there has been higerturn over rates in the company, which in this case would not be attributed to a poorly designed workplace but to other unidentified reasons. The report has also identified that most of the members of the staff are not overworked and work within the stipulated time thus they are in a positionto exhaust their potential without exhaustion and frustration.
Common barriers to embracing an ergonomic workstation
The report has indicated that there are barriers that hinder most of the companies to adopt the idea of ergonomics in their workstations due to the existing popular beliefs and opinions. Such barriers include the issue of money and resources, which deem the process to be expensive. Such obstacles as reported by the findings could be solved by investing in low-cost measures in their offices to install ergonomic equipment such as the chairs and computer desks among others as well as employing techniques to reduce risks and employing extensive programs for ergonomics(Abdullah,77).
In other cases, the prohibiting factor towards achieving an ergonomic workstation is the staff members who fail to cooperate and show disinterest in learning new ways to perform their duties, which would otherwise help in achieving maximum benefits. The management should encourage them to buy the strategy by showing them how incorporated techniques and methods will lead to the efficient and easy execution of duties and personalize the ergonomic aspects to their workstation, which will gradually lead to higher job satisfaction(Can et al, 459).
Conclusion
As evidently outlined, there is a plethora of benefits in investing in ergonomic workstations as they ensure increased production, improvement in quality, reduced costs and a higher degree of workers involvement. May companies should therefore embrace the concept for the benefit, health and safety of their employees and increased overall returns.
Work Cited
Abdullah, Z., et al. "Design and analysis on sitting posture in quality checking workstation of a manufacturing company." Proceedings of Innovative Research and Industrial Dialogue 2016 1 (2017): 77-78.
Can, GulinFeryal, KumruDidemAtalay, and Ergun Eraslan. "Working posture analysis in fuzzy environment and ergonomic work station design recommendations." Journal of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Gazi University 30.3 (2015): 451-460.
Hendrick, Hal W. "Determining the cost–benefits of ergonomics projects and factors that lead to their success." Applied Ergonomics 34.5 (2003): 419-427.
Voigt, Che, and John M. Speicher. "Ergonomic productivity workstation having coordinated and harmonized movement of head rest, backrest, seat, leg rest, arm rests, monitor support, and work trays through sitting, standing, and reclining configurations." U.S. Patent No. 8,939,500. 27 Jan. 2015.
Workineh, Sisay A., and Hiroshi Yamaura. "Multi-position ergonomic computer workstation design to increase the comfort of computer work." International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics 53 (2016): 1-9.
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