Ergonomic hazards in the workplace: assessment and prevention.

1. Ergonomic hazards impact employers and workers and their families. Poor workplace design, awkward body mechanics or postures, repetitive movements, and other ergonomic hazards induce or contribute to a staggering number of cumulative trauma disorders. 2. Cumulative trauma disorders (CTD) affect hands, wrists, elbows, arms, shoulders, the lower back, and the cervical spine area. Structures involved include tendons, muscles, bones, nerves, and blood vessels. One can plan strategies for abatement by learning to recognize the hazards that contribute to CTD. 3. OSHA has published the Ergonomic Program Management Guidelines. OSHA has also given Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for an Ergonomic Standard that will affect all industries. 4. A company wide ergonomic assessment should be developed, followed by a well written ergonomic plan. Ergonomic abatement will decrease the costs associated with CTD and ultimately impact the corporate "bottom line."