Stretching also helps, ergonomics experts say
Office injuries don’t usually result in spilled blood or crushed limbs, but like other on-the-job injuries, they can result in lost workdays, lost productivity and thousands of dollars in workers’ compensation claims.
The Beacon Mutual Insurance Co.’s rates for clerical employers average about 48 cents per $100 in payroll dollars, far lower than the state average of $2.13 per $100, said Jeff Johnson, spokesman for the insurer. By comparison, hospitals pay about $1.50 per $100 in payroll costs, and roofing companies pay about $33 per $100.
Though it’s on the low end, as far as workers’ compensation insurance costs, the average cost of a carpal tunnel claim is about $14,445, said Chris Benson, senior loss prevention consultant at Beacon Mutual. When that’s added to indirect costs – including wages for temporary workers, time to train temps and overtime pay – the cost of such wrist injuries can rise to $24,000 or $60,000, even without surgery.
In cases requiring carpal tunnel surgery, a claim can amount to $90,000 to $175,000, counting both direct and indirect costs, according to statistics from the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
But carpal tunnel claims overall have been declining in frequency for the past decade, Benson said. “We see lower-back injury, because of the amount of time sitting in one place.”
Beacon Mutual also sees claims for injuries to shoulders, elbows, wrists, necks and lower backs – categories that are not declining.
Those types of injuries are “more prevalent but not as easy to determine,” said Mark Wurster, a physical therapist and vice president of Liberty Physical Therapy in Lincoln.
“You need a doctor to assign a diagnosis to it” in order to gain workers’ compensation benefits. Still, Benson said, with the development of “definitive tests,” the diagnosis of certain injuries – such as upper back muscle strain or chronic headache syndrome – has been made simpler.
For the employer who wants to keep office injuries under control, there is good news, and that is the fact that many claims are preventable. For example, a major problem faced by employers is that an employee might experience symptoms for months before filing an injury report.
One way many injuries to prevent many injuries, Wurster said, is if employees have their workstations ergonomically assessed and the proper adjustments are made. But it still “comes down to the employer granting permission” for the workstation assessment, he said.
Wurster handles about 100 to 150 ergonomic assessments at companies per year. Benson handles 400 to 500 such assessments per year for Beacon Mutual, but that number includes manufacturing facilities and hospitals.
The “biggest universal cause” of office injuries, Wurster said, is “sitting for long periods of time with no movement,” which is something the body was not meant to do.
On top of that, many offices have “improper equipment,” he said, meaning cheap, inadequate chairs. An adequate chair can cost from $400 to $500.
Desks and counters are often too high, he added. “The furniture is made for people much larger than the people working there,” Wurster said. Many desks are designed for people 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall, he said. The problem is, most office workers are women 5 feet 2 inches to 5 feet 5 inches tall.
Sometimes the positioning of equipment is the problem, he said. “People don’t have their monitors directly in front of them. They have their monitor and their keyboard angled on their desk.”
Wurster said the keyboard should be placed at the edge of the desk. Employees should rest and stretch for five minutes every hour. And they should sit up straight, with shoulders back and down.
Correcting such ergonomic issues doesn’t have to be an expensive venture, Benson said. “Ergonomics is not about a catalogue.” Companies can use a book or box for a foot rest.
“Phone books make great monitor risers,” Johnson said.
For some companies, small improvements such as an ergonomics briefing for new employees can work wonders at reducing the number of workers’ compensation claims.
That works for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, whose ergonomics program won recognition from OSHA for reducing the number of workdays the company lost by 70 percent between 1999 and 2000.
The number of repetitive stress injuries dropped from 12 in 2000 to four in 2005, said Don Silva, Blue Cross senior systems analyst and head of the ergonomics program.
Carpal tunnel injuries dropped from three to zero in the same time period.
Silva recommends stretches, proper posture and correct positioning of equipment to all new employees, he said. And he makes it known that he is available for ergonomic assessments of their workstations.
He said he attributes much of the company’s reduction in injuries to the replacement of old chairs during the past four to five years. The chairs cost about $400, Silva said, and each has seven “distinct features” recommended by chiropractors and physicians.
Perhaps the most alarming discovery is the lack of awareness of ergonomics in general, he said.
At the beginning of the ergonomics briefing, he asks new employees how many have heard of ergonomics or have ever had an ergonomic worksite assessment. He said the answer to both questions is almost always no.
“Almost everybody has never had it explained to them,” Silva said. n
