Ergonomics And Roi: How To Use Efficiency To Justify Investments

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Ergonomics and ROI: How to use efficiency to justify investments

Have you ever wondered how to justify the cost of ergonomic improvements?  In many environments, ergonomic concepts can be used to facilitate extensive, and often unexpected efficiency improvements in a process.  Through the use of engineering controls, we can often demonstrate how the reduction of ergonomic risks has led to not only lower risk of injury to the people involved, but has resulted in a significantly more efficient process.
The construction industry in the Pacific Northwest has demonstrated this repeatedly.  One example is a construction contractor who was struggling with high ergonomic risks on a concrete form removal process.  They utilized ergonomic concepts to change the process, and to reduce ergonomic risks.  They invested approximately $30,000 in the manufacturing of 12,000 small brackets.  Installation of this bracket allowed them to drastically change their removal process.  They were able to eliminate approximately 6000 high risk operations, and reduce the time required to complete the project by approximately 4 weeks. ...
...  For a crew of 18 people this equated to approximately $324,000 on this project.  Approximately 60% of the project was completed using the bracket.  The brackets were subsequently used on an identical project, where they accounted for further $540,000 savings compared to the initial estimate.  All in all, a significant reduction of risk resulted in massive financial and schedule benefits to a local construction firm.  They are still seeing benefits of this more than a year later.
Ergonomic Assessment

In the best of situations the furniture at school or home has some adjustability or padding to reduce awkward postures and contact stresses. In more typical situations, the child is trying to contort themselves to fit into an adult sized computer workspace.

So, what are you doing to help your child prevent an injury? Well, this great video on Computer Ergonomics for Children, created by About, provides some great ideas to help fit your home’s computer workspace to your child.
Some furniture ideas to create a more comfortable and adjustable workspace include:
Adjustable height computer table
Small, adjustable height chair
A tall foot rest (you can use a box)
Kid sized keyboard and mouse
Padded mousing surface
You can find affordable, good condition, used office furniture at your local furniture liquidator.