The End

After reviewing what is important in my life, I have decided to retire from posting to this blog. All the information I have posted to date will remain online for reference, so no worries about that.

To any people who have checked this blog out on a regular basis, thanks for reading.

Aching Surgeons Read This...!

Brain surgeons take note: the latest in optics technology is just on the horizon.

http://www.hardgeek.net/2008/02/22/world%e2%80%99s-most-compact-neurosurgical-microscope-with-horizontal-optics/

This allows the surgeons to adopt a healthy posture, while taking nothing away from their ability to conduct surgery effectively.

OSHA Releases Ergonomics Guidelines For Shipyards

Dockyard workers, ailing from aches, pains, and muscloskeletal injuries? Well brighten up, because OSHA has just released another one of its super-useful general guides for ergonomics -- this time, shipyards are profiled.

Click the link below for more details, and be sure to explore OSHA's website for more useful info to help make your workplace an ergonomically correct one!

http://www.osha.gov/dsg/guidance/shipyard-guidelines.html

MSD Problems? The WSIB of Ontario Comes to the Rescue!

Got problems with muscloskeletal injuries (MSD's) in workplace but you don't have a clue how to begin tackling the problem? While it is advisable to call on an ergonomics professional to assist you at some point, a good reference to help quantify the main problems can be found on www.preventionpractices.com , a website developed by the WSIB in Ontario, Canada.

The PDF's introduce you to what MSD's are, what causes them, and how to build a program to reduce and/or eliminate them from your workplace.

Another example of Ontario leading Canada (and perhaps North America) in ergonomics awareness!

The Most In-Depth Office Ergonomics You'll Read This Year...!

Firstly, sincere wishes for a prosperous 2008 for you, your company, and your family, in spite of the recession fearmongering that seems to be all the rage these days...

Secondly, read this article (http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/dec2006/baron.htm) on office ergonomics. I know there's a billion of these out there, but this one is one of the most through I've seen yet, and also one of the most aesthetically-pleasing!

Don't Take Back Pain Lying Down

When one thinks of back pain, an old maxim springs to mind: Lie down and don't even think about doing anything active until it gets better. As it turns out, this is one of the worst things you can do, as the lack of blood flow to the injured area slows healing of the back structures, and the decrease of muscular activity weakens the back further, increasing the possibility of future injury.

Additionally, work should not be curtailed, but modified during the course of the injury. Doing so maintains the self-esteem of the worker in question, and it avoids the possibility of losing them to long-term disability. Stover H. Snook, Ph.D., CPE, in a recent article on Ergoweb, says it better than I can, so I will defer the rest of the post to him:

"... he explained that the focus should be on designing jobs for those people who will experience the back pain. If a work area is designed so that it accommodates the person with back pain, it only follows that those who don’t have back pain should be comfortable as well. More workers can do the job successfully and with minimal pain. Workers can keep working at their jobs without being moved to different positions or put at a reduced capacity. The key for industry is to remember that some workers will experience back pain no matter what, but the severity of it can probably be diminished along with disability rates.

“It starts with recognition,” says Snook. “Management should recognize that it will happen with most workers. We need to put some compassion in here.”

Addressing the workplace with this in mind is just the start, and Snook admits that ergonomics interventions will probably prevent some of the back pain. “Perhaps even more important is that it permits people to continue working,” he says. “If you can minimize the bending, you’re preventing pain or preventing the aggravation of an underlying condition, [the worker] can still continue to work.”

While all back pain may not be avoidable, ergonomically-correct design, Manual Material Handling equipment, and proper lifting technique can reduce the overall rates of injury, reduce the severity of incidents when they do occur, and allow injured workers to continue being productive at work, instead of lying on the couch at home, making their back (unknowingly) worse.

Administrivia + A Must Read Book For All Ergonomics Professionals

Apologies for the silence lately ... I have been very busy professionally!

I have also been doing my share of reading lately. I read through The 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss a second time, and I am now convinced: this book is a must read for all ergonomists, as it contains invaluable information on cognitive and organizational ergonomic concepts (the 80/20 priniciple, e-mail as a distraction, the need for work-life separation, etc). Look for a full book review soon!