Are your ergonomics-related injury claims going wild? A continuous improvement ergonomics process delivers clear, significant, measurable ROI. A dig-in-your-heels approach produces huge costs and enormous waste.
I just read about an ergonomics injury claim that spiraled out of control. In a nutshell, one employee changed another’s desk, chair and workstation setup, then that employee waited weeks for an ergonomist to revisit her desk and perform the adjustments for her. Since then, her existing injury, and the ongoing claim around it, exploded. The article didn’t share specific cost details, but from what I gathered, it had to be well over $100,000, perhaps several hundreds of thousands.
Then a potential client shared her story of a dramatic spike in ergonomics-related injury claims over the past year at her company, resulting in 100’s of thousands of dollars in losses. She attributed it to a growing atmosphere of discontent at her company.
The underlying theme to both stories is that the injuries might not be real, or at least not as bad as the claims were making them out to be:
There’s absolute, indisputable evidence that certain physical risk factors can and regularly do cause or contribute to discomfort, pain and injury. There’s also ample evidence that psychosocial factors can play a role, and some injury claims may have their roots in discontent.
So, what’s an employer to do?
Well, we can:
Or, we can:
A good ergonomics process will:
The “dig in your heels” approach will paralyze improvement progress, neglect the root causes of true injuries, and likely cost an enormous amount in wasted effort and resources. The winning party may have bragging rights, but really, everyone’s a loser in the end.
A continuous improvement ergonomics process delivers clear, significant, measurable ROI. A dig-in-your-heels approach produces huge costs and enormous waste. Period. No ROI.
I’m confident that had the employers mentioned above been using tools like Ergoweb Enterprise™ to manage their ergonomics process, they wouldn’t be experiencing “ergonomic injury claims gone wild.” Instead, they’d be on the path to operational excellence, optimizing human and organizational performance and well-being.
Now that’s ergonomics.
This is an updated article. The original version was published on February 20, 2015.