Employees in even the safest of jobs may develop injuries, mobility problems, and chronic pain. Poor posture, repetitive strain, or awkward movements contribute to these presentations in the workplace. Whether at a workstation or in the field, companies can minimise risk by facilitating an ergonomic assessment. Understanding what it and what it can do for your business could help you to minimise employee injury risk.
What Does Ergonomic Assessment Mean?
Ergonomics is the relationship between a person and the elements within their workplace associated with a specific task. There are three levels of ergonomics that companies can focus on improving to mitigate risk:
- Workstation design
- Workplace design
- Job design
When employers make an effective effort at improving workplace ergonomics, they reduce the risk of workers suffering injuries, especially those that are fully preventable with best practices in safety.
An ergonomic assessment is the process of evaluating ergonomic conditions within the workplace and making suggestions for change that could support the employee’s ability to maintain a safe workplace. These assessments can be done online or in a face-to-face or virtual assessment. Their goal can be customised to meet specific areas of concern, such as workplace injury procedure strategies.
Why Implement Ergonomic Workplaces in Your Business?
Ergonomic injuries are environmental factors that can cause injuries to workers, and nearly all of them are preventable. Examples of types of ergonomic hazards include:
- Equipment layout
- Equipment function
- Lighting
- Noise levels
- Lifting or pushing
- Task, job, and workplace design
- Systems on computers
- Workstation design and height, such as an ergonomic desk setup
For employees who have a sedentary work environment, such as sitting at a desk every day, it is critical to facilitate some type of physical activity and movement into the day. It aids in improving overall health and well-being. Yet, having a job that allows a person to move around easily isn’t always possible.
With the inclusion of strategies, such as the use of an ergonomic desk setup, these can minimise the negative pressures and injury risks that come from sedentary positions. However, just having a desk in place that is properly fitting is not enough of a workplace ergonomics solution to facilitate a better outcome for those employees.
How Investing in Employee Health and Wellness Saves Employers Money
An ergonomic assessment could be a critical eye-opener for companies. It provides a way for businesses to better understand the physical limitations employees have. Yet, by going further, such as providing a full resource-based tool to address both physical and mental health needs, companies can achieve much more.
Consider Health Stack. This industry-leading platform enables companies to create a custom platform where they can provide employees with access to wellness and supportive resources. Companies invest in this platform, as it has been demonstrated over time that this is a significant cost-saving investment for the company.
With a reactive scenario, your company is simply reacting to what is happening. When you turn that around to being proactive, you prevent injury and help employees get the care they need sooner. That may mean getting to a physiotherapy clinic to resolve back pain. It could be dealing with intense job stress or implementing strategies to the employee’s mental health environment to facilitate true healing.
Health Stack makes that possible. It provides an opportunity to create a prevention and wellness program specific to the risks your employees face. That can include an ergonomic assessment, wellness leadership, nutrition counselling, better sleep solutions, and online workplace fitness. This holistic approach enables employers to reduce employee risk, improve overall productivity, increase job satisfaction and ultimately boost profit margins as a result.
If you’re ready to embrace ergonomic assessments, focus instead on a physiotherapy clinic that offers a platform you can connect to, create your own wellness objective for employees, and then start working proactively rather than reactively. Learn more about how Health Stack works by contacting us now.
