e-Office Safety

The bottom line or ergonomics

The following is a copy of a press release from the 20th December 2004 which explains the rationale of e-Office Safety from a cost perspective.

The increasing focus on efficiency in e-business has meant that many workers are experiencing ergonomics problems in the workplace.  Back-ache is now the single most common cause of time of work, with 175 million days off work this year in the US; it is now a greater cause for days off work than industrial disputes (Unim Provident Report).  When you factor in a decrease in productivity by as little as one percent, the cost is well over $500 per year per employee.  The message to those that hold the purse-strings is that ergonomics affects the bottom line.

The traditional response to this drain on company resources has been to purchase new office furniture for everyone.  While a laudable intention, this often misses the point. Very often the existing furniture is more than adequate, it is just used in the wrong way.  Common problems can include:

• users slouch back into adjustable chairs, thereby increasing the external pressures on the spine. 

• footrests are given to people who are too tall, taking up valuable foot space under the desk and interfering with a  natural seating posture.

• wrist rests are used whilst during typing leading to an increased chance of contracting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

It is only by training the workforce in office ergonomics that problems can be identified and adequate solutions can be implemented.

e-Learning WMB's new product - e-Office Safety has been designed to tackle this problem.  e-Office Safety is an online ergonomics training and assessment package, which trains the user in the basic principles of office ergonomics and then asks the questions necessary to implement workplace solutions.  This e-learning experience lasts 20 minutes, but is the result of over 12 years of constant development.  Managing director and ergonomist Emil Reisser-Weston says "If there is a question that this product does not answer then I haven't yet heard it.  We build our systems very much in response to what our user-base asks us for - e-Office Safety is a result of this iterative process."  And with a user base of over 200,000, that is a very exhaustive process!

The real advantage of e-Office Safety over traditional methods of assessment is in the analysis carried out by its Learning Management System.  If the manager wants to see which profession is more likely to have the most problems, or analyze which department is least likely to complete their training then these reports can be produced.  In addition automated emails can be sent by the system to deal with general issues such as informing users to complete risk assessments or to deal with specific issues such as sending an employee an email detailing when to expect delivery of a new item of furniture.

With prices starting at $18 for the system this represents a ROI of 15,000% over a 5 year period.  Add to this the savings on equipment purchasing and training courses and it really is impossible to build a business case for not tackling this problem.

Features include:

• e-learning content

• Learning Management System (SCORM compliant with other  HR and ERP systems such as SAP and PeopleSoft)

• Content Management System

• Meets accessibility guidelines

e-Office Safety can be previewed in full at www.e-officesafety.com.