The Trouble with RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment)
January 25, 2012
RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) is an assessment method often discussed and applied by occupational ergonomists. In this article, Ergoweb's Peter Budnick reviews the popular method, recognizing its strengths, but also noting that it has limitations and can be -- and perhaps often is -- horribly misapplied, misrepresented, and misinterpreted without adequate training, experience, and professional perspective.

Ergonomics Theory in Computer Mouse Design
January 18, 2012
Peter Budnick sets out to document the underlying ergonomics theories behind the design of various styles of the ubiquitous computer mouse. Tracing its beginnings back to the 1960's, he attempts to categorize them by style, such as forearm flat, forearm angled, specialized grips, touch pad, foot mouse, etc., offering a high-level opinion regarding the potential benefits and concerns for each. Recognizing this as a significant task, he invites The Ergonomics Report Subscribers to collaborate on this documentation project, making it a valuable tool for ergonomists and purchasers to quickly make informed decisions when selecting from among the many market choices.

Best of The Ergonomics Report 2011
January 5, 2012
Subscribers to The Ergonomics Report represent our most loyal readers, and tend to share Ergoweb's goals to grow the value, influence and application of ergonomics around the world. As such, we're especially interested in what this group of influential readers finds of interest. The top 5 articles accessed in The Ergonomics Report library are ...

An Equation to Predict Maximum Acceptable Efforts for Repetitive Tasks
December 27, 2011
Researcher Jim R. Potvin has proposed an equation that could have significant impact on the way ergonomists estimate risk for repetitive tasks. Potvin performed a meta-analysis of various psychophysical studies (e.g., Snook et al) that looked at the maximum acceptable efforts for a variety of tasks. He found that Duty Cycle, essentially the percentage of a job cycle that force or torque is exerted, can be used to predict maximum acceptable force and torque efforts.

Research: Functional Movement Screening (FMS) Found Not to be Predictive of Injuries in Military Officer Candidates
December 13, 2011
Musculoskeletal Disorders are among the leading causes of morbidity among working aged adults and armed service members. The most common cause for medical evacuation in the Iraq war was an MSD, and MSDs are also quite common in basic training. Functional Movement Screening (FMS) is thought by many to offer a new paradigm for predicting MSDs. This study is the first large scale to test the predictive validity of this hypothesis, and the results indicate FMS is not a reliable predictor of future injury.

Evolution of an Ergonomics Process Success Story
December 6, 2011
This article reviews the evolution of an ergonomics process that was developed and promoted internally by Keith Osborne, a Honeywell HSE specialist. The process took some years to build, and Osborne shares how he won early successes that were used to gain management support and grow the benefits and value of ergonomics, and how he leveraged success to continuously improve and grow the process. The program now produces a significant ROI, helped gain the site OSHA VPP Star status, and has been adopted as a Honeywell best practice.

29 inch Desk Height Revisited
November 29, 2011
We previously published an article titled "Is There An Industry Standard For Desk Height?" in which we questioned the often suggested "industry standard" of 29 inches for office workers, "which ergonomists know can't possibly be right for all people." In this article, Peter Budnick reviews the origin of the 29 inch dimension in greater detail and makes the call for ergonomists to educate, inform and help the office environment move beyond such one-size-fits-all thinking, especially when one size never fits all.

Body Mass Index Related to Musculoskeletal Discomfort and Job Stress
November 15, 2011
A team of researchers from India performed a study looking at various associations between body mass index BMI, musculoskeletal discomfort, and occupational stress among computer workers. Their results add to the growing understanding that being overweight can have a significant effect on musculoskeletal discomfort and occupational stress measures.

What Influences The Use of Lift & Assist Devices In Healthcare?
November 1, 2011
Low back pain remains the number one musculoskeletal disorder among nurses, and is widely attributed to patient handling activities. A number of ergonomic interventions have been developed to reduce the occurrence of back pain in patient handling activities. However, the actual implementation of ergonomic interventions in health care settings remains difficult. This study evaluates both individual and organizational factors that influence the use of safe patient handling equipment during patient handling activities -- information you can use when devising an effective safe patient handling process.

Slips, Trips, Falls: An Untapped ROI Opportunity for Ergonomists
October 26, 2011
The prevention of slips, trips and falls are a nearly forgotten part of an ergonomists improvement opportunities. In this article, Peter Budnick summarizes a recent study of slips/trips/falls in an aircraft manufacturing facility, using it to demonstrates and promote the critical safety and cost improvement role ergonomics can and should play in reducing or eliminating their occurrence.

New ISO Standard: Ergonomics -- General Approach, Principles and Concepts
October 20, 2011
Peter Budnick reviews the new international ergonomics standard, ISO 26800:2011, "Ergonomics -- General approach, principles and concepts." Recognizing the challenges in developing and publishing any standard dealing with ergonomics, Budnick concludes, "I'm sure we could pick this standard apart word-by-word and debate a few things, but I'm happy to report that it is a concise high level introduction to the basics of human-centered design (ergonomics) ..."

Report on Musculoskeletal disorders in the European Union
October 10, 2011
The 2010 Report on Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the European Union highlights the current state of Occupational Health and Safety as well as a number of trends in the risk profiles for member states. This article summarizes some of the findings collected over the past two decades and builds on previous EU-OSHA reports.

Work Physiology: A Simple Method to Estimate the Physical Demands of Work
September 27, 2011
An recent journal article published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise presents a simple method to determine the metabolic demands of sustained physical exertions in field or work environments. This new approach may have application in assessing work tasks that require cardiovascular endurance, and may become important with an aging and increasingly overweight and frail workforce.

Office Inactivity & Metabolic Syndrome; a Growing Health Risk
September 21, 2011
Contributor Gene Kay, MS has written about an emerging phenomena called metabolic syndrome, or in the popular literature, sitting disease. The article summarizes some relevant articles and provides some suggestions for what we can do as ergonomics practitioners.

Ergonomics-Related Disorders Included in the International Classification of Diseases
September 12, 2011
Contributor Philip Jacobs finds a series of ‘Overexertion and strenuous and repetitive movements or loads’ codes included in the 9th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9), but notes that there is no use of the word 'ergonomics' (or the 'E' word, as he jokingly calls it in this short article) anywhere in the classification system.

Back to Work: Learning, Memory and Cognitive Function
September 7, 2011
Contributor Gene Kay, MS CEA brings together a collection of tips and research findings to help students and knowledge workers perform at their best. See what simple steps you can take to improve learning, memory, cognitive function and work performance.

The Upright Seated Posture: Conventional Wisdom vs. Current Thinking
August 22, 2011
The upright seated posture is commonly thought to be the best posture for computer work, but this view is not well supported by ergonomics science. This article explores the conventional wisdom of sitting and presents current ergonomics thinking about one of the most persistent topics in office ergonomics.

Distracted Driving: Passengers, Cell Phones & On-board Controls
August 16, 2011
Most of us have heard of the dangers caused by distracted driving and cell phones. this article identifies the potential for distracted driving caused by the on-board controls and touch screen technology being added to some newer cars.

Is There An Industry Standard For Desk Height?
August 10, 2011
Have you ever been asked "what's the right height for my desk?" To the computer user, this is a simple question demanding a simple answer. To the ergonomist, it's a loaded question, one that requires a patient explanation of the factors that must be considered when setting up a workstation -- including desk height. To the furniture, facilities management and purchasing industries, it's "29 inches," which ergonomists know can't possibly be right for all people ...

Evidence: Investing in Adjustable Workstations Produces Healthy ROI
August 2, 2011
An internal corporate study of 6200 financial services call center staff found that over a three-year period employees in non-adjustable workstations had 5-times more injuries and 20 times more Worker Compensation injury costs, as compared to employees in user-adjustable workstations. Furthermore, the non-adjustable workstations had higher costs associated with routine moves and making ergonomic adjustments.