Friday 3 September, 2010
Repetitive strain injury costing businesses millions
RSI cases are at an all-time high and the cost to businesses is spiralling
Jonny Evans (Techworld.com) 05/06/2008 07:40:02

Work-related RSI cases are at an all-time high and the cost to businesses is spiralling, new Microsoft research reveals.

Repetitive strain injury cases have soared by over 30 percent in the last year, costing businesses over US$600 million in lost working hours - and causing pain and debilitating discomfort to over-worked staff.

Microsoft claims the rapidly emerging trend of 'mobile working' - with office-based employees now working on the move for an average of an hour more per day than they did two years ago using laptops and mobile devices - is behind this alarming climb in work-related injury.

The company arrived at its conclusions in a poll among over 1,000 office workers, HR managers and office managers. This showed rthat 68 percent of office workers suffered from aches and pains, with the most common symptoms including back ache, shoulder pain and wrist/hand pain.

While advances in technology and increasingly demanding workloads have seen a growing trend for staff to work even when not in the office, the report finds a worrying lack of knowledge about the risks.

The findings also show that among office staff suffering symptoms of RSI, nearly a third of them did not associate this with anything work-related and did not report anything to their management. Indeed, of all HR managers surveyed, 76 percent were not aware of the high risk of RSI themselves and 68 percent did nothing when employees reported problems.

The research suggests that one of the main factors behind the high number of injuries is because not enough companies are replacing their existing office equipment with ergonomic hardware that can significantly reduce the risk of RSI.

To add insult to injury, less than half of U.K. workplaces have an ergonomic hardware programme in place and nearly a quarter of workers are not aware if their company even has one.

Experts recommend a number of ergonomic solutions for workers who use desktops and laptops on a daily basis which will dramatically reduce the number of injuries quickly and cost effectively. These include an ergonomic articulating keyboard, monitor arms, footrests, copy holders, ergonomic mice, laptop holders and ergonomic chairs.

John Allen, Managing Consultant at The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) believes there is much more employers can do to minimise the risk: "We are shocked that this research indicates that the number of office injuries is on the increase due to companies not taking the right actions in investing in their staff's well being. This issue needs to be addressed and companies should start assessing the risks and investing in ergonomic solutions where they are needed."

More about Microsoft

Comments

RSI Exercise Prevention

For the last 3 years I have been researching, developing and today, I have launched a FREE website that will help prevent RSI and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

The service is your desktop personal trainer that delivers individual exercise programmes to the user. The exercises are presented in video format, with or without sound, are professionally put together and really do work.

Today is my launch day and I am I so excited that all the work over the last 3 years has finally come to fruition. This is my passion and I am delighted to be able to help people who want to help themselves.

To create an account and start using the service today, please go to: http://www.coreminutes.com/personal

RSI Prevention

Ergonomic hardware (desks, keyboards, etc) will go only so far to prevent injury. The body will still continue to do repetitive movements which can create tightness in the connective tissue system.
If the connective tissue is not stretched on a regular basis to keep it flexible and fluid, it will contract and become dense around muscles, nerves and blood vessels. This results in the all too familiar RSI symptoms of tingling, numbness, pain and other types of discomfort in neck, shoulders, back, arms, hand, legs and feet.
In addition to the repetitive movements still required, workers develop postural habits over the years. Bodies were not meant to hunch over desks and, unfortunately, we develop a habit of slouching after doing it for a time. Those who do not slouch but are required to work in awkward postures (dental, etc) develop injuries partly because the tissue in the body has to work against gravity as it attempts to keep itself aligned. Stretching, proper stretching designed to release tightness in the connective tissue, is the add on to ergonomics (and can do a lot on its own!) that will prevent injury. Stretching, not just when the user has clicked or keystroked a certain number of times, but regularly throughout the day, is required to keep connective tissue healthy. We are just transferring our web site to a new host (June 2008) so the purchase function is not active again yet but if you want to see the a stretch that will make a difference, go to the home page at www.prevent-rsi.com and click on the sample.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

Enter the fully qualified URL, eg. http://www.example.com/
Users posting comments agree to the Techworld Australia comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Syndicate content
 
Jobs

Recent comments

- + c

Techworld Australia Member Login

c