Ergonomics

Overview:
Many University of Colorado employees use their computers frequently throughout each day as part of their job. Without the basic ergonomics awareness and application of proper ergonomic techniques, employees may unknowingly be subjecting themselves to cumulative trauma injuries. Shoulders, wrists, arms, legs, backs or other parts of the body begin to ache, tingle, or become numb. Left uncorrected, discomfort may increase to such a degree that the employee's work and personal activities are affected.

In today's workforce, computers have become a necessity in most office jobs. As a result, just as employees learn how to use the software on a PC, it is just as important for each person to learn and practice proper ergonomics at their workstation. With this knowledge base, University employees can often avoid, reduce, or eliminate cumulative trauma and repetitive motion-related pain.

University Risk Management's ergonomics program is designed so that each employee can easily learn the basics of workstation ergonomics.

The first step is to start now! Cumulative trauma is just that-work injury caused by incorrect ergonomic habits over time-so you may not feel it today, but say 5, 10, or 20 years into your career, the pain starts and, at that point, is not as easy to reverse.

Workstation Ergonomic Self-Evaluation Checklist:
To learn how to ergonomically position a computer workstation, University Risk Management has developed an ergonomic self-evaluation checklist. This checklist will ask you a number of questions related to your workstation. Answering "No" to any of the questions will prompt you to make adjustments to your workstation to correct the position you are currently in. Although you can do this yourself, partnering with a co-worker will allow the other person to evaluate your positioning from a distance.

The checklist can be found online here:
http://urm.cusys.edu/health/checklist.asp

For a picture to assist you with the checklist:
http://urm.cusys.edu/docs/ergonomic_orientation_sheet.pdf

For a more in-depth checklist and other excellent ergonomic information:
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/index.html

Online office ergonomics program:
http://www.oiweb.com/ergo/index.html

Once you have completed the checklist, made the adjustments, and believe you have a good grasp on the material, then you have learned the basics of workstation ergonomics! If you're looking for some ergonomic equipment recommendations, see the section on products below. Be aware your body may take a week or two to adjust to the changes.

Click on the link below to perform a workstation self-evaluation:
http://urm.cusys.edu/health/checklist.asp

Recommended Ergonomic Products:
Recommended Products

Stretches:
Stretches can be a great way to take a quick break from your computer every 30 or 45 minutes. These stress relieving exercises can help reduce or prevent ergonomic-related injuries.

Stretches at the workstation may be found at http://www.oiweb.com/data/Computerstretches20022%20ages.pdf.

Symptoms and Solutions:

An excellent 14-minute computer workstation ergonomic video is available at  http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ergonomics/home/advice/ergonomicseminar/

The following established university vendors can perform ergonomic evaluations.  Please contact the vendors directly for pricing and payment information.

The Chasen Group Contact: Craig Chasen Phone: 303-437-0505 Fax: 303-527-0144	Workwell Contact: Scott Sullivan Phone: 303-702-1612 Cell Phone: 303-875-2258 Fax: 303-774-7899
Arbor Occupational Medicine Contact: Scott Sullivan Phone: 303-443-0496 Cell Phone: 303-875-2258 Fax: 303-447-2741	Ergonomic Services, Inc Contact: Brian Foxhoven Phone: 303-904-8333 Fax: 303-904-8336