Corporate Facilities Council First Wednesdays LESSONS

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Measuring Ergonomic Program Effectiveness
Corporate Facilities Council
First Wednesdays

• LESSONS LEARNED AT THE FDIC

Brian S. Yellin, Esq., MS, CIH Assistant
Director Facilities Operations Section Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation
Michael Chermak, MS, CIH, and Jay Leung, CIH U.S.
Public Health Service
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Corporate Facilities Council
First Wednesdays
Brian S. Yellin, Esq., MS, CIH Brian Yellin is
the Assistant Director for Facility Operations
with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation,
responsible for operating and maintaining its
headquarters and other facilities in Washington,
D.C. He is also the Health, Safety and
Environmental Program Manager and oversees the
development and implementation of the FDICs
safety and health programs nationwide. He earned
a Bachelors of Science in Biology from the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, a Masters
Degree in Environmental and Occupational Safety
and Health from the State University of New York
at Hunter College, and has a Juris Doctor from
the University of Baltimore School Of Law. Brian
is also a Certified Industrial Hygienist and
developed and implemented FDICs Office
Ergonomics Program for all of its facilities
nationwide. The program has been successful in
helping maintain an extremely low lost workday
injury-and-illness rate and has reduced workers
compensation costs. It has been instrumental in
addressing requests for reasonable
accommodations pursuant to the Rehabilitation
Act and has made the workplace more comfortable
for employees, thereby increasing productivity.
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Presentation Objectives

• Establish elements of an effective office
  ergonomics program
• Identify and measure key performance indicators
• Evaluate the effectiveness of office ergonomics
  processes
• Make office ergonomics part of your
  organizations culture

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The FDIC Mission
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
preserves and promotes public confidence in the
U.S. financial system by insuring deposits in
banks and thrift institutions for at least
100,000 by identifying, monitoring and
addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds
and by limiting the effect on the economy and the
financial system when a bank or thrift
institution fails.
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FDICs Health, Safetyand Environmental Program

• IAQ and WQ Testing Program
• Emergency Evacuation and Business Continuity
• OSHA Mandated Safety and Health Programs
• Health and Wellness
• and Office Ergonomics

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FDICs Injury/Illness Experience
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FDICs Computer-Related MSDWorkers Comp Cost
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FDICs Computer-RelatedMSD Workers Comp Cost
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FDICs Office Ergonomics Program

• Individualized ergonomic assessments
• Symptom surveys
• 1-on-1 training and education
• Workstation adjustments
• Provision of ergonomic controls
• Follow-up

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Office Ergonomics Program Goals

• Identify and eliminate ergonomic risk factors
• Prevent injuries and illnesses
• Increase employee and contractor comfort
  and productivity
• Address specific limitations and physical needs
  due to injury and illnesson and off the job
• Provide reasonable accommodations to
  individuals with a qualified disability

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Triggers for an Ergonomic Intervention

• Phone calls and e-mails by employees and
  contractors to ergonomic helpdesk
• Referral by health unit or workers compensation
  staff
• Requests for reasonable accommodations
• Office moves and relocations
• Just need some help

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Ergonomic Assessment

• Background information
• Symptom survey
• Job hazard analysis
• Workstation measurements
• Review of existing equipment controls
• Training

Leading indicator

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Physical Signs Symptom Survey

• Provides details on degree of pain and discomfort
  by body part
• Identifies pre-existing conditions, doctors
  diagnoses and prescribed treatment
• Provides focus for evaluation
• Symptom survey responses used as a baseline to
  measure effectiveness of controls

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Physical Signs Symptoms
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Symptom Survey
Employee MSD Symptom Complaint 0None
1Occasional 2Moderate 3Frequent
4Constant
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Symptom Survey

• Symptom form completed by employees prior to
  evaluationidentifies ailing body part(s) and
  relative degree of pain
• Pre-existing conditions and doctors
  diagnoses/treatment indicated
• Symptom information recorded in database
• Follow-up survey administered weeks/months later
• Comparison measures effectiveness of intervention

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Symptom Survey Benefits and Uses

• Simple measure of discomfort before and after
  intervention
• Numeric measure
• Average discomfort may be assessed before and
  after ergonomic interventions as a metric
• Average of survey results becomes a leading
  indicator

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Symptom SurveyFlaws and Weaknesses

• Symptom form completed by employees is subjective
• Self-assessment may depend on timeframe
  considered or condition that day
• Result after intervention may not indicate any
  improvement
• Average year-end result is always the same and
  defeats the purpose of this recordkeeping
  mechanism

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Job Hazard Analysis

• Placement and fit of workstation components
  keyboard, pointing device, monitor and chair
• Ability to work while maintaining neutral posture
• Overall efficiency of workstation configuration
• Lighting/glare

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Job Hazard Analysis

• Awkward postures
• Excessive repetitions
• Static position
• Forceful exertions
• Contact stress

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Ergonomic Controls
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Ergonomic Equipment Controls

• Leading Measures/Indicators
• Lapse time for device/control installation
• Number of devices
• Evaluation and review of new equipment/processes
• Budget for equipment

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FDICs ReasonableAccommodations Policy
Modification of the work environment to enable a
qualified individual to perform the essential
functions of their work

• Requirements
• Individual must be disabledimpairment that
  substantially limits one or more life activities
• Request must be reasonable and not cause the
  agency undue hardship

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FDICs ReasonableAccommodations Policy
Most requests for ergonomics support are
accommodations that are reasonable

• Examples
• Chair adjustments
• Keyboard tray installations
• Equipment requestse.g. trackball, natural
  keyboard, wrist rest
• Workstation re-alignment

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Workers Compensation (FECA)
Office Ergonomics Program is a key aspect of
FDICs Workers Compensation Program

• Assists in returning employees to work
• Reduces continuation of pay (COP)
• Reduces lost work time
• Demonstrates management commitment to employee
  well-being and, safety and health

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HSE Intranet
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HSE Intranet Ideal Workstation Setup And Posture
Eyes aligned with top ¼ of monitor viewing area.
Lower for bifocal wearers
Upper arm against bodyforearms parallel to
floorflat wrist angle
Feet flat on floorthighs parallel to floorcalf
at 90 degree angle
Slight recline100 to 110 degrees
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Ergonomic Program Dashboard
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FDICs Experience vs. SHARP Data
Average Ergonomic Claims and Costs (2002 - 2006)
SHARP Washington State Safety Health
Assessment Research for Prevention
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Achieving Cultural Change

• Program promotion
• Integrate program with other business activities
• Provide superior customer service
• Institute pleasing designs and features
• Continually demonstrate value
• Provide superior customer service

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Measuring Success

• Success
• Employee awareness
• Customer satisfaction
• Reducing ergonomic discomfort
• Accomplishment
• Program established
• Achieving program goals
• Priceless
• Performing an ergonomic assessment for the
  chairman

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Conclusions

• Lagging indicators, such as injury rates,
  compensation costs, etc., have traditionally been
  used to measure the effectiveness of a program.
• Use of leading indicators provides a tool for
  measuring performancehow good of a job am I
  doing? And, where can I improve?
• Maintaining meticulous records is vital to
  effectively track all leading and lagging
  performance indicators.