Cost Analysis – e-Office Safety

By

Emil Reisser-Weston (MSc. MEng. MErgS.)
Ergonomist

 

2010

(visit www.e-officesafety.com for an electronic copy of this document)

 

 

Introduction

European Health and Safety legislation states that all users of computer equipment must have their workstations assessed and be trained to use them in an ergonomic manner.  Countless legal actions awarding 6 figure sums have been taken by employees suffering from computer-related ‘RSI’s.  These could have easily been avoided with the simple process of training and assessment.

The purpose of this document is to analyse the cost of implementing different ergonomic solutions for handling the Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992. 

 

 

Options

To achieve this goal there are 3 major options:

·          Consultant Assessments

·          Designate Employee Assessors

·          On-line Assessments

Each option is examined with the associated cost:

 

Consultant Assessments

This is the most expensive option, since it requires employing external personnel to firstly carry out the assessments and then re-employ them on a regular basis whenever there has been a change in the work environment.

Average consultant charges are £60 per hour and can carry out an assessment every 30 minutes.  The cost for an initial assessment is £30 per person.  Legislation states that each employee would then need to be reassessed whenever there are changes to the office environment.

Total Cost per employee £30 plus £30 per year

 

Designate Employee Assessors

This process requires the designated health and safety personnel to carry out the assessment and training themselves.  Benefits of this approach is that the assessors are on-hand all the time to answer questions and carry out re-assessment as appropriate.

There are hidden costs associated with training the assessors and removing them from the workplace during this period; the major cost however is involved in using up the assessors’ time.

Additional burden is also experienced in providing and managing a data management system to control and act upon assessment information.

Total Cost per employee £18 plus £14 per year

 

Online Assessments

The major advantages of using an online system is that computer-users can carry out their own assessments and require no additional personnel.

An effective computer-based system will allow the users to receive ergonomics training and identify (and where appropriate solve) the problems themselves.  This will leave H&S personnel free to implement innovative solutions to unresolved issues.

Total Cost per employee £7.10 – (based on the standard version of e-Office Safety supplied to 1,000 users) plus £1.42 (optional maintenance fee)

 

 

Summary

There is a clear economic argument for using an online assessment system and it is this that this report has concentrated on.

 

This is not the only benefit however.  Ten years of ergonomics experience in this area has shown that there are numerous additional advantages of an online system.  The training is consistent, the information learned can be transferred immediately to the work environment and assessments are carried out by those who know their workstation best – i.e. the users themselves.

 

Type of Assessment	Assessment Cost (per employee)	Training Cost (averaged per employee)	Additional Software Cost	Re-Assessment Cost (per employee per year)	Data Collation and Management (per employee per year)	Total First Year	Annual Cost
Consultants	£30			£30		£30	£40
Employee Assessors	£10	£4	£4	£10	£4	£18	£14
e-Office Safety	£7.10					£7.10	£1.42 (optional)