Office Ergonomics Interventions and Controls in a Changing Organization

W. Fred Schott

Aetna Business Resources- Safety & Environment
151 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06156-9125

Aetna Business Resources (ABR) provides a wide variety of support services to Aetna, Inc.'s healthcare and financial services businesses, its staff units, and a number of other (non-Aetna) corporate clients. Workplace safety and environmental compliance programs-- including Aetna's Ergonomics Program-- are a part of ABR's portfolio of services.

Aetna's Ergonomics Program was officially initiated in 1992. At that time, Aetna was a multi-line insurance company offering U.S. markets a full portfolio of property-casualty, individual and group life, group health, pension, and annuity products that still bore many of the marks of a previous centralized command and control form of organization. Since then, Aetna has sold its property-casualty operation, merged with a leading health maintenance organization (HMO) company, aggressively increased its presence in Asia and Latin America, and pushed decision-making authority much closer to local markets. It is a very different company now than it was five years ago, yet the Ergonomics Program has been able to respond to changing organizational needs and circumstances.

In my presentation, I will discuss some of the ways in which ABR and its partner organizations have used the generic program model to deliver interventions and controls that make business sense

MISSION

Aetna's Ergonomics Program is a companywide health and safety initiative of ABR- Safety & Environment and its partner units. Its objective is to:

control & reduce costs to Aetna of employees' work-related musculoskeletal disorders

comply with current and emerging ergonomic health & safety legislative and regulatory requirements

serve as a model for office safety & health management programs to be developed for Aetna's customers.

CSF's

#1 "Compliance Plus"

We cover all the bases prescribed by recognized ergonomics and health and safety authorities, taking into account voluntary program guidelines as well as specific legislative/regulatory mandates.

#2 Measurable, Business-Focused Results

Program initiatives are planned, developed, implemented, and evaluated in accordance with relevant performance measures for cost, productivity, and quality. The program overall has a positive impact on business performance measures.

#3 Institutionalization

The program is understood, accepted, consistently put into practice by all employees and their supervisors & managers. Program elements are integrated with company policies/procedures; periodic compliance audits are conducted; and there is a suitable mix of compliance incentives (carrots and sticks).

DEFINITIONS

Ergonomics:

A way of looking at people and their work

Addresses tool and equipment design, workplace layout, and general workflow
Aim is to promote safe, healthy, productive work by "fitting the job to the person"

Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders:

Disorders of the musculoskeletal system associated with (caused or aggravated by) cumulative exposure to job risk factors such as improperly designed workstations, tools, equipment; improper work methods; job & process design problems including aspects of work flow, work pace, work/rest regimens, repetition rates

Includes musculoskeletal discomfort or pain experienced on the job plus diagnoses such as (but not limited to) tendonitis, tenosynovitis, epicondylitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar nerve entrapment, etc.

Costs to Aetna:

Benefit plan costs: disability (occupational and non-occupational) and group health

Drag on productivity and quality associated with: absenteeism, pain & discomfort on the job, unfocused or misdirected efforts at addressing problems/complaints

Hard dollars & soft costs (ie, damage to company's reputation) associated with penalties for violating legislative or regulatory requirements re work-related musculoskeletal disorders

Surveillance	ongoing monitoring of health & safety data (workers comp, other disability, related medical) to determine trends and need for work improvement
Individual Case Management	continuum of care from early reporting of symptoms through rehabilitation & return to work performed by WCDS- Ergonomic Intervention & Rehabilitation Services as integral part of Integrated Disability Managment process
Training & Education	train people to identify ergonomic problems and implement cost-effective solutions educate managers/supervisors on their roles/responsibilities around ergonomics strategy: standard building blocks (curriculum & resource materials), local assembly & delivery
Standards/Procedures	embed "ergonomic best practices" in the corporate culture scope= work processes, information technology (hardware and software), work stations and physical work environments entails ongoing review of new/changed work technology to identify potential ergo problems/improvement opportunities
Work Improvement	continuous process at the individual and work-group level engineering and administrative controls to eliminate, prevent, correct, control ergonomic risk factors

INDIVIDUAL ERGO CONSULTING

*Objective of "fitting the work to the person" varies, depending on context of the intervention

"Fit the Work to the Person": Objectives

CSF's