Ergonomics

Monday, November 21, 2011

OSHA Pulls MSD Column Proposed Rule

It had been held up since July 14 at OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).

Jan 25, 2011

Many stakeholders and commenters will be pleased by Tuesday's announcement by OSHA that it has temporarily withdrawn a proposal to add a column for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) to employers' 300 injury and illness logs. The regulation has been bottled up since July 14 at OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs; OSHA said it is withdrawing the regulation from OMB review in order to "seek greater input from small businesses on the impact of the proposal and will do so through outreach in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy."

Opponents have argued the regulation is OSHA's attempt to resume ergonomics rulemaking for the first time since Congress and President George W. Bush repealed a new OSHA ergonomics standard in early 2001.

"Work-related musculoskeletal disorders remain the leading cause of workplace injury and illness in this country, and this proposal is an effort to assist employers and OSHA in better identifying problems in workplaces," Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels said Tuesday. "However, it is clear that the proposal has raised concern among small businesses, so OSHA is facilitating an active dialogue between the agency and the small business community."

The agency's announcement cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics in stating that MSDs accounted for 28 percent of all reported workplace injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work in 2009.

The proposed rule would require employers already mandated to keep injury and illness records, and to record MSDs, to place a check mark in the new column for all MSDs. "Prior to 2001, OSHA's injury and illness logs contained a column for repetitive trauma disorders that included noise and many kinds of MSDs. In 2001, OSHA separated noise and MSDs into two columns, but the MSD column was deleted in 2003 before the provision became effective. This proposal would restore the MSD column to the Form 300," the agency noted. It said a joint OSHA/Office of Advocacy meeting to hear from small businesses will be announced within 30 days, with participation possible both by telephone and online.

Take from http://ohsonline.com/articles/2011/01/25/osha-pulls-msd-column-proposed-rule.aspx?admgarea=ht.Ergonomics

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Psychologists Identify Influence Of Human Social Interaction On Sensitivity To Physical Pain

10 Nov 2010

Psychologists at the University of Toronto have shown that the nature of a social interaction has the ability to influence an individual's sensitivity to physical pain. The discovery could have significant clinical implications for doctor-patient relationships and the general well-being of an individual on a daily basis.

"Dozens of studies over the past several decades have demonstrated the impact of inadequate social connectedness on numerous health outcomes, including cardiovascular health, immune function, post-surgical recovery, and lifespan," says Terry Borsook, a PhD student in the Department of Psychology at U of T and author of a new study published in PAIN. "Our study is among the first to show in humans that the perception of physical pain can be immediately impacted by the types of social experiences that people have in their everyday lives."

In the study, healthy participants rated the intensity and unpleasantness of painful stimuli before and after engaging in a structured interaction with a trained actor who was instructed to be either warm and friendly or indifferent throughout the exchange. Participants who experienced the indifferent social exchange reported less sensitivity to pain after the interaction when compared to that measured before the exchange. Participants exposed to the positive social interaction, however, exhibited no change in pain sensitivity.

"While the analgesic effect resulting from a socially disconnecting event might seem like a good thing, we know from a great deal of research in animals and humans that social threats provoke the well-known fight-or-flight stress response, of which pain inhibition is a typical component."

Borsook says that the results suggest that social relationships may be of such critical importance to human health and well-being that even a mild threat of disconnection can be stressful.

"This stress-induced analgesia evolved so that we can escape threats without being hobbled by pain. The pain reduction observed in our study is thus consistent with prior findings but what is remarkable about our results is that analgesia occurred in response to a type of experience that people experience in daily life, perhaps several times a day," says Borsook. "If such everyday mildly unpleasant encounters are enough to provoke pain inhibition, then this suggests that many people may be exposed to chronic fight-or-flight responses, which can have many negative implications for health. This would be the case especially for people who are sensitive to social exclusion, such as those who feel lonely or fear rejection"

Borsook says that the results also have important clinical implications when it comes to seeing your doctor. "Health practitioners who are aloof, lack understanding, or are generally unresponsive to patients may provoke an analgesic response resulting in underestimated reports of pain, with insufficient pain control measures being a possible consequence."

The findings are presented in a paper titled "Mildly negative social encounters reduce physical pain sensitivity", published in the November issue of PAIN, the official publication of the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Source:
Sean Bettam
University of Toronto

Take from: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/207206.php

Take from http://www.ace-ergocanada.ca/index.php?contentid=142

What is Ergonomics?
Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with interactions among humans and other elements of a system (e.g.the tools, equipment, products, tasks, organization, technology, and environment). The profession applies theory, principles, data, methods and analysis to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

What Ergonomists Do

Ergonomists participate in the design of systems to optimize overall system performance. From an ergonomics point-of-view, a system is comprised of devices, tools, technologies, environments, and/or organizational structures with which people interact to accomplish defined objectives. Ergonomists contribute to the design and evaluation of tasks, jobs, products, environments and systems in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people. Ergonomists use a holistic approach and will ensure that physical, cognitive, social, organizational, environmental and other relevant factors are taken into account when making recommendations regarding the design or modification of a system.

Core academic subject for the field of ergonomics

1) The principles and concepts of Ergonomics and how it benefits society
2) Work evaluation and investigation, task and activity analysis
3) Ergonomic design and interventions
4) Human anatomy, physiology and psychology, biomechanics and anthropometry
5) Organizational design and management, organizational psychology
6) Quantitative and qualitative design and analysis, systems theory, technology
7) Physical environment of work, workplace design, work organization
8) Information design, human computer interaction, human error.

Examples of application areas for ergonomics

1) Accidents; Health and Safety at Work
2) Cognitive Ergonomics and Complex Tasks
3) Computer Software Ergonomics
4) Computer Terminals: Design and Layout
5) Design and Layout of Displays and Controls
6) Design of Control Rooms
7) Environmental Ergonomics
8) Human-Computer Interface Design and Assessment
9) Human Reliability
10) Industrial Design Applications
11) Industrial/Commercial Workplace Design
12) Management and Ergonomics
13) Manual Handling of Loads: Safety and Training
14) Office Ergonomics and Design
15) Physiological Aspects and Medical Ergonomics
16) Product Design and Consumer Ergonomics
17) Risk Assessments
18) Sociotechnical Systems and Ergonomics
19) Systems Analysis
20) Task Analysis
21) Ergonomics Training for Management and Staff
22) Usability Assessment
23) User Requirements and Guidance
24) Vehicle and Transportation Ergonomics
25) Work-related Musculoskeletal Problems
26) Military, nuclear or process-controlled ergonomics applications
27) Ergonomics Research and Education