A chief executive once told me “I will pay anything to fix it but nothing to prevent it”. We were talking about staff getting health problems from working at computers all day. You wouldn’t think that being sat down, pounding a keyboard, and pushing a mouse is actually a life threatening activity but this kind of work is the direct cause of over half of all the people off sick in the UK today.
It is a common perception that it is cheaper to cover the cost of injuries than it is to make improvements to the workstation. If you do the sums it is easy to see that this thinking doesn’t add up, not to mention a lack of concern for the workforce.
There is plenty of research data which shows the scale and cost of the problem. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the Health & Safety Executive, and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, produce regular reports. Musculo Skeletal Disorders or MSDs are the main problem. This includes back pain, Repetitive Strain Injury RSI, whiplash, and many other conditions including, tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, tennis elbow, golfers elbow, De Quervain’s syndrome, and many more.
Paul Goddard, Education Officer at Keytools and well known RSI expert claims that the majority of these problems are easily preventable. He says “It’s a bit like seatbelts; they are far more effective before you crash than after. Many companies are happy to adopt preventative strategies in other situations.
Your organisation very likely has a healthcare programme, safety training, fire extinguishers, and security systems all of which are there for “in case” something bad happens.” So why don’t employers do a bit more to make workstations easier to use and less damaging for employees?
Organisations have measured the costs but got wrong outputs. Getting all of the sum of the wages, additional workload of employees and the missed opportunity, prevention will earn more than not working. E-bay, Visa and HP who has their own say in their field, the enhancement of their productivity has been positively credited having reduced their costs because of the absence of the employee.
In some case studies, organisations that have planned programme of office ergonomics and using of right equipments can feel within 2 years of return of investment. CEOs now can be proud and say that “I have no worries to fix because I paid to prevent!
The author, Paul Goddard is the UK’s foremost expert on assistive technology for people with RSI and his company, Keytools provides a large range of ergonomic keyboards and mice to assist prevention of RSI.
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Tags: Arthritis, disability, fitness, Health, healthcare, Repetitive Strain Injury, RSI, work related injuries
