Ergonomic hazards are a result of physical factors that can result in musculoskeletal injuries. For example, a poor workstation setup in an office, poor posture and manual handling. Psychosocial.
What does ergonomic hazard mean?
Definition - What does Ergonomic Hazards mean? An ergonomic hazard is a factor in a work, or other environment that could cause damage to the human musculoskeletal system. These hazards include repetitive strain injury, discomfort in an office chair or desk, poor design of a particular job or task at a workplace that causes injury, ...
What is a psychosocial hazard?
A psychosocial hazard or work stressor is any occupational hazard related to the way work is designed, organized and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work. Unlike the other three categories of occupational hazard ( chemical, biological, and physical ), they do not arise from a physical substance, object, or hazardous energy.
What is an ergonomic risk analysis?
Prolonged or repeated exposure to a single hazard or exposure to a combination increases the severity of an ergonomic risk and the likelihood than an employee will suffer injury. An analysis of the workplace can assist an employer to identify and eliminate there ergonomic hazards and thus reduce the incidence of workplace related injuries.
What are ergonomic risk factors for workplace injury?
Ergonomic risk factors are workplace situations that cause wear and tear on the body and can cause injury. These include repetition, awkward posture, forceful motion, stationary position, direct pressure, vibration, extreme temperature, noise, and work stress. Multiple factors increases the risk of developing MSD (muscular skeleton disorder)
What Does Ergonomic Hazard Mean?
An ergonomic hazard in the workplace is any condition which has the potential to cause harm to a worker's musculoskeletal system. An ergonomic hazard may be caused by the physical condition of the workplace or the physical demands of a particular job. When there is a poor fit, a worker may suffer injuries or trauma, sometimes referred to as ergonomic disorders or musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Whenever a situation has the potential to cause stress or strain on an employee's body, it is an ergonomic hazard. Ergonomic hazards may also be referred to as ergonomic risk factors or biomechanical stressors.
What are some examples of ergonomic hazards?
These types of situations can place strain on a persons' muscles, bones or connective tissue, causing damage. Tendonitis, degenerative disc disease and trigger finger are all examples of musculoskeletal disorders that can be caused by ergonomic hazards in the workplace.
What are some examples of musculoskeletal disorders?
Tendonitis, degenerative disc disease and trigger finger are all examples of musculoskeletal disorders that can be caused by ergonomic hazards in the workplace. Prolonged or repeated exposure to a single hazard or exposure to a combination increases the severity of an ergonomic risk and the likelihood than an employee will suffer injury.
What is ergonomics in the workplace?
Ergonomics is a field of study that examines the interaction between people and their environment. In the workplace setting, ergonomics is concerned with the safety and efficiency of the work setting. In particular, ergonomics seeks to fit the work environment to the worker.
What is ergonomic hazard?
What is ergonomic hazard: Ergonomic hazards are typical risk factors within the environment which has the potential to hurt the musculoskeletal system.
What are ergonomic risk factors?
These include repetition, awkward posture, forceful motion, stationary position, direct pressure, vibration, extreme temperature, noise, and work stress. Multiple factors increases the risk of developing MSD (muscular skeleton disorder)
What should be considered when evaluating ergonomic hazards?
Anything that could cause employees to experience long- or short-term strain should be evaluated and alterations to procedures and work spaces should be considered. If it’s determined that ergonomic hazards cannot be removed from a workplace, controls can be implemented to reduce risks that are involved.
What are engineering improvements?
Engineering Improvements: Engineering improvements include rearranging, modifying, redesigning, or replacing tools, equipment, workstations, packaging, parts, or products. These improvements can be very effective because they may reduce or eliminate contributing factors. (For example, if your job requires sitting for long periods of time, having an adjustable seat or foot stool so that your knees are higher than your hips helps protect your lower back.)
What are the effects of psychosocial hazards on the workplace?
Exposure to psychosocial hazards in the workplace not only has the potential to produce psychological and physiological harm to individual employees, but can also produce further repercussions within society - reducing productivity in local/state economies, corroding familial/interpersonal relationships, and producing negative behavioral outcomes. Occupational burnout is a consequence of psychosocial hazards.
What are the tools used to assess psychosocial hazards?
There are several risk assessment survey tools for psychosocial hazards. These include the NIOSH Worker Well-Being Questionnaire (WellBQ) from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health 's Total Worker Health program, the People at Work survey from Queensland Workplace Health and Safety, the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire from the Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment, and the Management Standards Indicator Tool from the UK Health and Safety Executive.
How are psychosocial hazards identified?
Psychosocial hazards are usually identified or assessed through inspecting how workers carry out work and interact with each other, having conversations with workers individually or in focus groups, using surveys, and reviewing records such as incident reports, workers' compensation claims, and worker absenteeism and turnover data . A more formal occupational risk assessment may be warranted if there is uncertainty about the hazards' potential severity, interactions, or the effectiveness of controls.
What are engineering controls?
In the context of psychosocial hazards, engineering controls are physical changes to the workplace that mitigate hazards or isolate workers from them. Engineering controls for psychosocial hazards include workplace design to affect the amount, type, and level of personal control of work, as well as access controls and alarms. The risk of workplace violence can be reduced through physical design of the workplace or by cameras. Proper manual handling equipment, measures to reduce noise exposure, and appropriate lighting levels have a positive effect on psychosocial hazards, in addition to their effects to control physical hazard.
How does psychosocial harm affect the workplace?
Exposure to psychosocial hazards in the workplace not only has the potential to produce psychological and physiological harm to individual employees, but can also produce further repercussions within society - reducing productivity in local/state economies , corroding familial/interpersonal relationships, and producing negative behavioral outcomes.
What is a psychosocial hazard?
A psychosocial hazard or work stressor is any occupational hazard related to the way work is designed, organized and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work.
What are administrative controls?
Administrative controls include job rotation to reduce exposure time, clear policies on workplace bullying and sexual harassment, and proper consultation and training of employees. Personal protective equipment includes personal distress alarms, as well as equipment typically used for other types of hazards such as eye and face protection and hearing protection. Health promotion activities can improve workers' general and mental health, but should not be used as an alternative or substitute for directly managing risk from psychosocial hazards.
What Is An Ergonomic Hazard?
Ergonomic hazards are physical conditions that may pose a high risk factor of injury to the musculoskeletal system.
What Could Be A Cause Of Ergonomic Injury?
An ergonomic injury can be caused by a number of ergonomic hazards and risk factors, which may include awkward postures, poor ly designed seating, long working hours, poor ventilation, excessive vibrations and more.
What are the risks of poor ergonomics?
Poorly designed seating and working stations can cause awkward postures which are a high risk factor for ergonomic hazards. These common ergonomic hazards may also happen in any place like in a home while playing a video game, reading fiction, doing repetitive tasks, and watching movies.
Why is vibration bad?
One of the main reasons why excessive vibration is one of the common ergonomic hazards in the workplace is that it vibrates our internal bodies, our stomach, or our hands’ muscles. Where there is an excessive vibration our muscles can be damaged in such a way that they might stop functioning.
What are the hazards of stationary positions?
Stationary Positions. Stationary positions are one of a few common ergonomic hazards in the workplace that can cause trauma for employees in certain companies . Almost all company employees have such problems since their employers ask them to do hard work and finish a certain task in a short period of time.
Why do people sit in awkward positions?
When employees sit in one position in awkward postures for a prolonged time they use less energy than they do when they stand or move . Some studies have linked sitting for a long period of time that is happening in our day-to-day life can cause some health issues and is one of the prevalent ergonomic hazards.
What is ergonomics in the workplace?
There are many common hazards in the workplace, of them, Biological, Chemical, Physical, Safety, psychosocial, and Ergonomic hazards are the most known and common hazards and risk factors in the workplace.
What are the different types of hazards?
These hazards are categorized into five groups: physical, biological, chemical, ergonomic and psychosocial.
What are some examples of chemical hazards?
These hazards may occur when you are exposed to chemical substances at work. Examples are cleaning products, pesticides, gasoline, solvents, vapours and fumes, carbon monoxide and other gases and flammable materials.
What are some examples of stress or violence in the workplace?
Having conflicts with co-workers and the manager, having trouble keeping up with activities or working in poor conditions are some examples of either stress or violence factors in the workplace. Psychosocial hazards can potentially lead to decreased mental and physical stability/capability, aggression and insecurity.
What are physical hazards?
Physical hazards include unsafe machines and environmental conditions. Physical hazards are the most common of the five types of hazards and include injuries that could cause injury or death. Examples are unguarded machine parts like saw blades, constant noise, high exposure to sun, frayed electrical cords, exposed moving parts, ...
Why are these types of hazards so difficult to identify?
These type of hazards are one of the most difficult ones to identify because they are not easily seen as they may begin to cause damage to your health over a period of time.
Overview
A psychosocial hazard or work stressor is any occupational hazard related to the way work is designed, organized and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work. Unlike the other three categories of occupational hazard (chemical, biological, and physical), they do not arise from a physical substance, object, or hazardous energy.
Psychosocial hazards affect the psychological and physical well-being of workers, including their …
Types of hazard
In general, workplace stress can be defined as an imbalance between the demands of a job, and the physical and mental resources available to cope with them. Several models of workplace stress have been proposed, including imbalances between work demands and employee control, between effort and reward, and general focuses on wellness.
Psychosocial hazards may be divided into those that arise from the content or the context of wo…
Assessment
Psychosocial hazards are usually identified or assessed through inspecting how workers carry out work and interact with each other, having conversations with workers individually or in focus groups, using surveys, and reviewing records such as incident reports, workers' compensation claims, and worker absenteeism and turnover data. A more formal occupational risk assessment may be warranted if there is uncertainty about the hazards' potential severity, interactions, or th…
Control
According to the hierarchy of hazard controls, the most effective controls are eliminating hazards, or if that is impractical, minimizing them, through good work design practices. These include measures to reduce overwork; providing workers with support, personal control, and clearly defined roles; and providing effective change management.
In the context of psychosocial hazards, engineering controls are physical changes to the workpla…
International Standards to manage psychosocial risk at work
ISO 45003:2021 is an international standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) allowing organizations to manage psychosocial risk at work, in particular, to be considered within occupational health and safety (OH&S) management systems based on ISO 45001 on Occupational Health and Safety Management System Standards.
Impact
Exposure to psychosocial hazards in the workplace not only has the potential to produce psychological and physiological harm to individual employees, but can also produce further repercussions within society—reducing productivity in local/state economies, corroding familial/interpersonal relationships, and producing negative behavioral outcomes. Occupational burnout is a consequence of psychosocial hazards.
See also
• Industrial and organizational psychology
• Occupational health psychology
• Positive psychology in the workplace
External links
• Psychosocial issues on OSH-Wiki
Poor Posture
Stationary Positions
- Stationary positions are one of a few common ergonomic hazards in the workplace that can cause trauma for employees in certain companies. Almost all company employees have such problems since their employers ask them to do hard work and finish a certain task in a short period of time. The same is true of jobs that put workers in weird positions, causing workers to h…
Excessive Vibration
- Excessive vibration is one of the most common ergonomic hazards in the workplace. Excessive vibration can cause decreased blood flow and muscle contractions. Jackhammer is the most recognizable tool that causes this vibration-related damage to your body or employee’s body in the workspace. Most manufacturing companies use some of the vibration tool...
Indoor Air Quality
- All human beings breathe air, without air you can’t even survive some minutes. But not only the air matters but its quality even matters, since there is a percentage of oxygen, hydrogen, and other minerals. So by that, it means if there is less percentage of oxygen than needed the quality of the air is not enough to be good for humans. When we come to the workspace since most offices ar…
Extreme Temperatures
- The temperature of the workspace is one of the most common ergonomic hazards. Employees’ office should be at a mild temperature not too cold and not too warm so that the employees’ health can be good. Employers should be aware of the temperature of the office they provide for their employees. Extreme temperature is one of the main reasons why many employees get sic…
Poor Or Inadequate Lighting
- Inadequate lighting is one of the common ergonomic hazards in the workplace. Many employees complain about inadequate lighting even though it might not be easily noticeable. Over time inadequate lighting or poor lighting can cause stress or have a bad feeling to employees or even guests who come to the workspace with poor lighting. Your mind is sensitive to lighting, if you n…
Contagious Illnesses Spread by Sick Workers
- A contagious disease is one of the worst ergonomic hazards in a workplace that everyone should take care of. An employee may get ill of some contagious disease without his awareness he or she might come to the workplace as always, if there is no such system that checks whether one employee has a contagious disease or not, then all the employees in the company might be infe…
Noises
- Disturbing noise is one of the common ergonomic hazards which occur in the workplace. The workplace needs a silent place that other places where the employees who are working in the workplace need concentration based on their field, if a certain field or task needs more concentration then some noises can affect the performance of the person who needs a concent…
Chemical, Cleaning Products
- Chemicals and cleaning products are also one of the common ergonomic hazards in the workplace. As you can see a chemical or cleaning products have their smell that smell might be so hazardous that it can’t let us sit for even minutes. Even a soap, used for cleaning the roof of the office, can have a bad smell that can make you feel bad or stressed. So knowing what cleaning …
Stress
- Stress is also one of the common ergonomic hazards in the workplace which results in low performance of an employeein a certain company. Stress may come from various things you might hear it in many scopes, so as you know it is one of the most common ergonomic hazards not even in the workplace but also in the home and other areas. If an employee feels stressed, th…