Don’t Let Repetitive Motion Injuries Damage Your Workplace

Although carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and repetitive motion injuries (RMI) are usually seen in adults over 30, due to the popularity of cell phone texting, video gaming and home computers, people as young as age 9 are experiencing the pain. In kids, it’s being seen from chatting on the internet and playing video games for extended periods of time. 

CTS and RMI very often occur in people who, like me, spend their entire work day typing (as a writer, I’m kind of stuck). The repetitive typing motion, and especially clicking and scrolling with the mouse, causes these types of injuries if an employee’s workstation isn’t properly set up. 

And this is especially true for people who are like me and leave work only to go home and repeat the same motions all night (writing is not only my job, but my hobby as well).   

But, luckily, there’s something you can do to help your employees avoid these injuries: Create an ergonomic workplace that keeps them safe and comfortable. 

Here’s how: 

• First and foremost, make employees aware of ergonomic issues to help prevent problems on the front-end.
• Offer ergonomics training.
• Encourage employees to move around and take frequent stretch breaks, and to look at an object at least 20 feet away about every 20 to 30 minutes.
• Post ergonomics information and posters that show desk stretches in places where employees can see them, such as break rooms, on the company intranet or on message boards.
• Equip your office workstations with the right set up and tools, such as adjustable chairs, adjustable keyboard trays, adjustable desktop heights, wrist pads for keyboard and mouse, wrist supports, foot rests, speech-to-text software that allows you to speak into a microphone and it transcribes your words, and “take a break” software that allows you to set break reminders, which pop up on your computer screen to tell you it’s time to take a break.
• And especially, don’t view safety as an additional cost. Ergonomics injuries are the No. 1 most common workplace safety incident, according to Mark Groves, senior manager of Safety Services for Administaff.  

For more information about ergonomics, check out this HRTools feature article on setting up an ergonomic workstation.