ergonomic tips

Last month I attended the Ergonomics Applied to Retail and Distribution conference in Minneapolis.  It was my first conference I attended that was strictly devoted to this sector.  While I was attending I was thinking that there could almost be an ergonomics and human factors conference devoted to each industry and/or sub-sectors because there are enough unique work tasks, needs and nuances that could support what occurred at this conference—that was speakers specific to the industry presenting their current challenges, attempted changes and full or partial solutions to their issues.

Although sit-stand workstations have been around for several years their popularity has only recently grown.  This has been primarily due to research on the negative effects of prolonged sitting which has been labeled “Sitting Disease”.   To combat sitting disease in an office/computer work environment employers and employees should modify the work environment and tasks to allow for a reduction in the amount of time spent sitting and increase the amount of time spent standing and/or walking—hence the upsurge in demand for and use of sit-stand computer workstations.

Basically every task performed by a worker requires the use of the hands.  Often times a certain level of hand protection is needed.  For tasks that involve exposure to cuts or puncture wounds, finding a glove that protects the hand but yet allows for good dexterity can be difficult.  Gloves that fit poorly can result in earlier hand fatigue and reduced moderate to fine motor movements.  There were many glove exhibitors at Safety 2012 but one caught my attention—TurtleSkin.

“Sit-Stand” Keyboard Tray Arms

I recently attended ASSE’s Safety 2012 PDC.  It was the first time attending this conference.  I was impressed with the expansive exhibit hall.  There were a few products which caught my attention which I will highlight in this and upcoming blogs.

Ultra Lift

Another Versatile Mouse Option:  The OysterMouse

A Solution for Standing Workers

Over the remainder of the year I’m going to blog about some of the lessons I’ve learned through the years through practicing, facilitating and consulting on ergonomics, lean and process improvement.  Today is the first blog in this series on “Lessons Learned”.

Standing has become the thing (preferred posture) to do at the office these days thanks to all of the attention and hype on “Sitting Disease”.  When working with office-based clients the question that always comes up from the office manager is how they can cost effectively provide standing workstations since the majority of their workers are now requesting standing workstations.  When I teach my office ergonomics class on “How to make your workstati

Determining and demonstrating the value of your ergonomics initiative for specific engineering improvements are commonly requested.  Unfortunately, many of us struggle to even begin to justify improvements, let alone choose a meaningful calculator to demonstrate the benefits of improving workplace conditions.  A quick Google search turns up available calculators: Equipois Return on Investment (ROI) Calculator and