Smokers don’t have a lot to celebrate but, along with colleagues who find excuses to get up from their desks regularly, they can count themselves fortunate on one front.

Their trips out of the office help them avoid the painful and often debilitating musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) from which many office workers suffer.

It’s an irony that doesn’t escape the notice of Kathy Kawaja, an ergonomics consultant with Human Factors North Inc. in Toronto. “They are totally at an advantage,” she says of those who get up from their desks at regular intervals, even if it is to smoke. She’s not advocating picking up unhealthy habits to combat MSI, but she does point out that much of the pain and cost associated with MSI stem from the fact that many office workers barely move once they hit their desks each morning. “We have a whole lot of
people who go into a computer trance,” she says.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that ergonomic disorders are the most rapidly growing category of recordable injuries and illnesses in the U.S., according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And Statistics Canada figures show that, in 2001 (the most recent year for which numbers are available), 2.3 million Canadians reported they had suffered a repetitive strain injury in the past 12 months that was severe enough to limit their activities.

A combination of factors, including increased workloads and reliance on computers, along with a stressed out and sedentary workforce, ensure this problem will not go away anytime soon.

According to Kawaja, the average cost per employee for an MSI requiring an absence from work is $55,000. Indirect costs — the training and cost of replacement workers, paperwork requirements, insurance increases and low employee morale — make up the bulk of that price-tag, averaging somewhere between six and 10 times the direct costs, she says.

That’s why it is critical that office managers provide the work tools, furniture and equipment that ensure the safety and comfort of their employees. It is also up to employees to follow a few ergonomic guidelines, says Kawaja: “We spend a lot of time training employees on how to work safely and smartly on computers.”

Every employee should know how to adjust his or her workstation to suit body type, duties and style of work, says Lyn Margeson, principal of ErgoLynx Consulting in Port Hope, Ont. “An employee should look at the environment and say, ‘How can I do this properly?’”

While chair comfort, support and stability, as well as keyboard placement, are key to preventing strain, it is also important to consider lighting and climate, she says. To avoid eyestrain, for example, desks should be perpendicular to windows that provide natural light. And every employer should understand at what point heating and air conditioning enter an office. A duct blasting cold air directly over a worker’s desk could easily lead to neck strain, she says.

Margeson suggests staff also be trained and encouraged to adjust workstations to fit individual body types, duties and working style (see sidebar). Monitors and telephones, for example, should be movable so workers can shift them from one side to another, engaging both hands.

But ergonomic training only counts if a workstation is adjustable, says Dwayne Van Eerd, a research associate at the Institute for Work and Health in Toronto, which is conducting a review of ergonomic interventions. “If the equipment does not allow employees to make changes, it’s not as worthwhile.”

He notes that it is not necessary to break the bank in order to be comfortable at work. “It’s not all high tech,” he says. “It’s a matter of knowing what the best set-up is.”

Chairs are often the first thing people look at when they are considering ergonomic design. “You can get some pretty funky chairs if you spend $1,000,” says Kawaja. “But you don’t have to spend a fortune.” She says a decent chair should cost $400-$500.
Basic requirements include a five-castor base suitable for the office flooring, a seat pan that adjusts forward and back, and a backrest that is independent of the seat.

Of course, there are chairs that go well beyond the basics. Paul Peregal, manager of Backs Etc. , a store in Toronto devoted to ergonomic design, says top designers around the world are creating extremely body-friendly chairs. For instance, the Perfect Chair, sometimes called the “zero-gravity” chair because users mimic the stance of astronauts on takeoff, is designed to take all the stress off the back. It costs slightly more than $2,000.

@page_break@The store offers other products designed to make office work easier on the body. The Ergorest articulating arm support is very popular, he says. Clipped onto the desk or keyboard tray, the $175 contraption cradles the arms while they move, taking the pressure off of the neck and shoulders.

There has been an explosion in new technology in the past two years, says Peregal. The once-standard lumbar support, for example, has been replaced in the newer chairs with what is called a “split-back system” to forestall slumping. There are also devices designed for sporadic use to prevent office work strain. Exercise balls, for example, can be used in place of chairs to build core strength for a few minutes each hour. And a Hang Ups Inversion Table, a device that allows users to hang upside down or at an inverted angle, allows spinal discs to regenerate when used once a day, Peregal says.

The newest chair at Backs Etc. is the Freedom Chair. It has no adjustment levers because it simply moves with the user, says Peregal: “The theory behind it is that you want to encourage as much natural movement as possible.”

That brings us back to smokers and their restless colleagues. Nothing can replace the benefits of movement. “The worst thing is sitting in the same position for long periods of time,” says Margeson. Her mantra is: the best position is the next position.

“Keep moving, change your position as much as possible,” she says, “and stand up and walk around every so often.” IE