DSE & Health & Wellbeing

Work Station Ergonomics
Hello

Who am I ?
The UK’s Health & Safety
Laboratory
• supports HSE
• enable business success
• saves and improves the
lives of workers

Let’s get started then

Prevention Retention at Work
(Staying & Return to
Work)
Organisational
resilience
Individual resilience Supportive
Workplace
Psychological
Health &
wellbeing
Preventing stress, anxiety,
depression, MSDs by
effective
Leadership; Work design and
systems; Culture; Teams
Engagement Mastery
Relations
Goal setting
Mindfulness
Accommodating
workplace
Counselling
Physical
Health
Preventing (avoidable)
illnesses (MSD)
Health promotion
Physical exercise,
nutrition, etc.
Accommodating
workplace
Health Care
Social
wellbeing
Social & recreational
networks / support, etc.
Social support (friends, family)
Holistic approach

legal moral
Why DSE is a big deal?
investment
financial

Why DSE is a big deal? - financial
To what extent have benefits been observed as a direct result of
implementing DSE improvements in the workplace?
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
% of positive results (>4 out of 5)
Evaluation of the Success in Britain of the Directive on Minimum Safety and Health Requirements for Work with
DSE (90/270/EEC) Gervais, R.

Why DSE is a big deal? - financial
Total number of cases (prevalence) and new cases
(incidence) of work-related MSD 2001- 2014

workstation set-up: BS EN 527:2011

workstation set-up: Seating at Work HSG57

Lack of breaks – how much should we take?
short frequent breaks are more satisfactory than occasional longer
breaks: for example a 5-10 minute break after 50-60 minutes continuous
screen and/or keyboard work is likely to be better than a 15-20 minute
break every 2 hours.”

Key messages so far
• Managing DSE is good for business
• Think holistic (not just DSE assessments)
• Management is well established (and relatively easy)
• Never take a break from taking breaks

Exposure to mobile DSE
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/statistics/stats14/

(Originally Forrester Research) www.adweek.com Published:11.05.12 Sourced:29.10.13
88%
In the living
room
24%
At work
79%
In the bedroom
Exposure to tablets – where?

Exposure to mobile DSE - effects
Increased MSD with
mobile phones use
(Hänninen et al. 2006; Storr,
et al. 2007)
Increased hours of
hand-held mobile
device increased
neck, shoulder and
thumb pain
(Berolo et al. 2001)
Increased head and
neck, flexion
compared to desktop
(Heasman et al. 2000; Young
et al. 2012)
Non dominant hand
increased shoulder
flex, load, sustained
pinch grip and EMG
activity (Lozano 2011;
Young et al. 2012)
Increased deviation
from neutral and
sustained muscle
activity in non dominant
hand (Werner et al. 2005;
Fischer 2009)
Tablets led to more
neck and trunk
flexion and elevated
shoulders
(Straker et al. 2008)

Exposure to mobile DSE - risks
Risks
Posture
Forces
Exposure

Non-neutral
Fixed
Posture

Non-neutral
Fixed
50°
6400°°
Posture

30°
Non-neutral
Fixed
91°
Posture

Young et al. 2012
Tablet 1 vs Tablet 2
• Lap-Hand,
• Lap-Case,
• Table-Case,
• Table-Movie.
Non-neutral
Fixed
Posture

Young et al. 2012
• Reduced neck
flexion
• Reduced gaze
angles
• Perpendicular
viewing angles
• Increased
neck flexion
• Increased
gaze angles
• Oblique
viewing angles
Non-neutral
Fixed
Posture
Tablet 1 vs Tablet 2

Non-neutral
Fixed
36° 45°
Young et al. (2012) Albin and McLoon (2007)
Posture

High forces
Prolonged
Force
Average force
exerted on a touch
screen was more than
six times that
required (Irwin and Sesto
2012)
Non dominant hand
increased sustained
pinch grip and EMG
activity (Lozano 2011;
Young et al. 2012)
Tapping against a
touch screen of a
tablet PC may cause
MSD problems in the
fingers (Korkki 2011).

2cm 12cm
3.36kg 0.56kg
weight
High forces
Prolonged
Force
• One hand pinching a 1 kg object
• One hand gripping a 4 kg object
… or applying an equivalent amount
of gripping force
BS EN 894-3, Silverstein 1986

Risk Controls – fit the device to the user

Task specific stands

Get a (better) grip

Tablet keyboards

Emulate this…. ….here

Risk Control – a healthy workforce
• Mobile DSE is …… mobile.
• Can’t rely on monitoring or office based
solutions.
• Must build positive safety culture;
• Increase personal transferable
understanding; and
• Aim for positive behaviours.

Risk Control – focus on behaviour
Knowledge
Behavioural
Change
Personal
Susceptibility
Skill
Support
Sustaining
awareness
Planning
Lunt, Bennett & Hopkinson HSE RR660

Knowledge
Behavioural
Change
• Basic anatomy
• Injuries and causes
• Posture effects
• Risks
• Company policy

Behavioural
Change
Personal
Susceptibility
• Injury statistics
• Internal case studies
• Symptom awareness
• Personal tracking
• Self assessment

Blackberry Shortcuts:
Move to top of a message list T
Move to bottom of a message list B
Move to next unopened item U
Move to next date N
Move to previous date P
Reply to a message R
Reply to all L
Skiillll
Behavioural
Change
• Workstation setup
• Self assessment
• Fingers and thumbs
• Approach to training (including play)
• Shortcuts

Behavioural
Change
Supporrtt
• Psychosocial factors
• Reporting systems
• Exposure control
• Management commitment
• Policies e.g. once a day
emails when out

Behavioural
Change
• Risk reduction strategies
• Sensible solutions / worker
engagement
• Acknowledge good
practice
• Work allocation
• Appraisals
• Turn it off !
Pllanniing

Behavioural
Change
Sustaining
awareness
• Leadership
• Toolbox talks
• Awareness media
• Posters and notices
• e.g. BT “adjust and relax”
• vodacom youtube videos
• Nudges
• Communication / feedback

Knowledge
Behavioural
Change
Personal
Susceptibility
Skill
Support
Sustaining
awareness
Planning

Risk Control – training
Behaviour Change: Improving
Health and Safety Performance
DSE Ergonomics

Summary
• Exposure is up
• Risks are present
•We need to stick to what we know
• Careful choices required when purchasing
device and peripheries, include the users
• Peripheries for all occasions!
• But peripheries only work if people use them
– behaviour is a key

DSE & Health & Wellbeing

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