Ergonomics Strategies for Managing Obesity in the Workplace

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Ergonomics Strategies for Managing Obesity in the Workplace

Introduction

Ergonomics is a combination of two Greek words, ergon which means work and nomos which means laws (Dul and Weerdmeester, 1). Nowadays, ergonomics is a word that describes the way a job fits an individual. It takes into account the physical stress and the environmental that might cause health problems to an individual. There are three categories of ergonomics, physical, organizational and cognitive. Physical ergonomics is about the response of the human body to physical or psychological loads. It comprises of actions such as work station layout job demands and risk factors. Cognitive ergonomics or engineering psychology is the design of composite systems to meet the human cognitive strengths and prevent weaknesses. It seeks to improve mental processes such as perception, memory storage and retrieval (Bagad, 22). Organizational ergonomics deals with the socio-technical systems (Schlick and Luczak, 93). These include the structures, processes and policies in an organization. It may also include job satisfaction, scheduling, motivational theory, supervision and teamwork. A job should fit the lifestyle of an individual to decrease ergonomic stress and get rid of various diseases relates to ergonomics such as trigger finger, tendonitis and carpel tunnel syndrome. Physical stressors may comprise of repetitive motions, which include typing and screwing. They may also include jobs involving vibration, excessive force and working in inappropriate positions. The above aspects may lead to ergonomic disorders such as Cumulative Trauma Disorders and Repetitive Strain Injuries. Environmental factors may include aspects such as excessive noise an indoor lighting. Excessive noise may enhance permanent hearing problems while poor lighting may cause eye strains and headaches. Poor air quality may also cause Sick building syndrome, which is a disorder accompanied by congestion, fatigue headaches and rashes. People should learn to listen to signals given by the body to enable them realize the parts of the job, which may pose a risk to their health. Once a person listens to the body they will be able to note the places that need ergonomic design to eliminate chances of getting disorders. Ergonomists use information and techniques from various disciplines such as anthropometry, biomechanics, environmental physics, vibrations and body systems and sensations applied psychology. Ergonomics also applies to the products we use. Pens, cups and plates have to be ergonomically fit for proper use. For instance, a pen should have a comfortable width for an individual to use without any difficulties. A cup should also have a considerable handle comfort. A handle with a narrow space may not be appropriate because it may cause harm while trying to lift it up. A plate also requires proper design to hold food without enhancing unnecessary spills. Furniture is also part of the life of any human being. People encounter furniture in the office, at home and also in places such as parks. Furniture should enhance proper posture.it should meet the needs of various people with different body sizes and height. A short stool may not be comfortable for a tall person and vice versa. Ergonomics is vital in the modern world because it enables designers to come up with products that are easy to learn and use.it also helps to enhance the aesthetic appeal of many products. It also helps to provide an appropriate workplace for an individual.it increases the safety of the tools used in a workplace. For instance, machines such as saws may be hazardous, so a designer may create a detachable one to reduce chances of causing harm due to accidental falls. A designer may also reduce the weight of the saw to decrease fatigue while using the tool. Tools such as knives may require stiff handles to reduce injuries when trying to apply pressure on an object. It should also have a wedge-shaped edge to increase efficiency.

Obesity is a factor that affects various people in the modern world. These people should not be rejected at work places because of their physical appearance. Obesity is a condition that should also be catered for when providing an appropriate working environment. Obese people may have various problems such as heart diseases and may not be able to work in the same condition as other healthy people. Ergonomists can use various strategies to ensure that they also work without strain and other forms of stress in the work place. Furniture can be adjusted to fit their size, the work setting may also be rearranged to accommodate the obese and also the schedule may also be changed to make obese people give their maximum effort without stress. On the other hand, the work place may take measures that reduce the risk of making people obese. They may change the diet of the people in the organization to avoid increasing the number of obese people and also help the obese to reduce their weight. They may also ensure that all the workers have some form of exercise as they work. For example, an individual whose job makes them sit for long hours may be given other duties that will increase their movement. This will require the organization to assign duties that fit the nature and lifestyle of an individual. The employer should realize that the problems of the obese may affect their organizations. Aspects such as absenteeism reduce the workforce and this leads to low production. Employees with low self-esteem may not be as efficient as those who are highly motivated. Ergonomists should also help employers find the most appropriate solutions to various problems in their organizations. Designers should also consider such people in the products they come up with. The obese also have talents and they are capable of doing what their counterparts can do, but they require adequate support to help them meet personal and organizational goals. The analysis of organizational ergonomics reveals significant strategies for managing obesity.

Review of the Literature

Obesity is a factor that requires extra attention especially in the workplace. Obesity is a factor that may increase cases of arthritis, compromised grip strength, medical risks and work limitations. Cognitive ergonomics is vital in work environments with such people Rose and Cohrssen, 1754). This category of ergonomics will ensure that the obese employers acquire the correct perceptions and that their mental processes are favorable for maximum production. Physical ergonomics is also vital in workplaces with obese employees. This ensures that every tangible aspect in the workplaces is fit for the job required and for the person supposed to use the tool. Obese employees are vulnerable to aspects such as falls and reduced ability to handle manual material. Obesity causes low self-esteem, which may in turn lead to absenteeism and premature mortality. Ergonomists should update the anthropometrics because the body sizes of the current generation are changing at a fast rate due to the varying lifestyles. The anthropometrics used in the past may not be suitable in the current world. Nowadays there is a wide range between the slender individuals and the obese. On the other hand, the average weight of an obese person has also increased. This calls for much attention in areas such as the work place. The authorities should choose suitable interventions to provide a favorable environment for all employees (Sanders and Sivasailam, 226). The tools, design and procedure involved in the work place should not discriminate against the obese. The employers are also the ones who will incur losses when they do not ensure that their employers have the appropriate working environment. When an employee dies they will lose the workforce provided by the deceased and when an employee lacks motivation and self-esteem, they will not efficiently. The anthropometrics used by ergonomists should include extreme body sixes to ensure that people are not left out of the bracket. An employee would lose their self-esteem if they realize that they cannot get promoted because of the inabilities caused by their weight. Obesity is not that people are proud of. So they chose to keep to themselves instead of airing their opinions. They may choose to work under strenuous working conditions because they are afraid to lose their jobs. Employers should be considerate of such people and ensure their working environment do not lead to any ergonomic disorders.

Obese employees may not feel comfortable asking for equipment that they can use to make them work better because of their condition. Obese employees require equipment that suits them. The design of the equipment they use should have a comfortable grip for them to work efficiently. As mentioned earlier, obese people have low self-esteem, so when they fail to use a tool because of the grip is too small, they get stressed. Many obese people link their inabilities with their weight, so the ergonomists should strive to provide equipment that will motivate them. They obese also require enough working spaces to enhance movement. The tools should also be of light weight to ensure that the employee has adequate grip for the longest time possible. An obese may not be able to handle a tool with a small handle because it may cause blisters. Blisters may prevent the employee from holding another tool. Ergonomists should also provide less strenuous jobs to reduce work related stress among these individuals. Clustered work places are not appropriate because they make them strain between spaces to get to the positions. Redesigning work places will also reduce falls caused by obstruction since obese people have mobility problems (Barnett and Sudhesh, 290). Floors should also be non-slippery to reduce injuries. An obese individual may get serious injuries from a fall and this will lead to low production or absenteeism. The furniture should also be fit for the workers to ensure that they do not sit or stand in awkward position. Obese people may require larger furniture for comfort. People spend long hours in the offices, so jobs that re computer based and other desk jobs require comfort to enhance the body posture. The desks they work on should be of the appropriate height and width. The shelves should also be of appropriate heights to reduce limitations. Drawers should also be at strategic points to avoid restrictions. The employees should feel comfortable accessing the necessary areas within their offices. This will help to increase job satisfaction and also improve self-esteem among obese employees.

The employers may also change the job structure to encourage healthy living. They may have to promote healthy workplaces by incorporating jobs that involve some movement especially for those with desk jobs. For instance, the employee may work have to deliver the files they work on to other offices instead of sending messengers. They will help to reduce risk of increased numbers of obese employees in the office. The work place should discourage laziness to reduce the risk of increased numbers of employees. The work environment should promote frequent movements. Shelves and drawers may be placed far from the working desks to compel them to move from their seats once in a while. The washrooms should also be at a considerable distance to enhance movement. The food provided at the work place should enhance healthy living in the work place. Lifts should be minimal in buildings with manageable staircases to encourage people to take the stairs. The workplaces should also include manual jobs to reduce health risks caused by obesity. Computers are efficient equipment in any working environment, but they also encourage laziness. The employer may assign tasks that can be done by the computers and those that may be done manually to increase physical activity. Field workers may also do some manual work instead of using machines for every task.

As much as employers strive to provide a suitable environment for their obese employees, they their work places do not encourage unhealthy lifestyles. There should also be healthy programs in the workplace to educate the employers on the risk factors that enhance obesity. This will reduce the cost of changing equipment regularly to meet the needs of obese employees (Meyers, 65). The health programs should also educate the employees about the diseases caused by obesity to discourage them from engaging in unhealthy diets. The employees should also learn how to include physical activities in their schedules. There procedures involved in various tasks may be altered to reduce laziness. Posters and pictures that encourage healthy living may also be placed in eating places to discourage anyone who plans to engage in an unhealthy diet. The images will also be a constant reminder of their weight problem, so they will strive to eat appropriate meals.

Research

Ergonomic strategies have been employed in a number of workplaces in order to deal with various work conditions and environments. In managing obesity in the workplace, the research undertakings in this case were interviewing sample groups, focused group discussions and few online documents in regard to the same. In the interviews conducted, the sample group of people was around twenty five respondents of mainly the age group between 25 and 60 years. Obesity in the workplace has become a common phenomenon especially in America and ergonomic strategies and solutions have been put in place to try and deal with this situation. According to most respondents interviewed, there was a common agreement that most people in the workplaces are more overweight than it was in the past decades. The main question here was what percentage of the workforce in a working environment could be considered overweight. Most people agreed on a figure of around 60-75% of adults are obese or pre-obese especially in the work places.

Another question tackled in the interview was the main cause of obesity in the work place and there were varied responses. The main reasons given for obesity causes are the consumption of highly processed foods which contain high calories that add to the fats in the body. Moreover, lack of exercise and long hours of sitting in the workplaces without much of walking or moving around was among the reasons offered. Other interviewees also said that the cause of this could be genetic or inherited problems, hence some people simply become obese without necessarily being lazy, but due to their genetic make-up as well as family lineage. All these considerations have been put in place at the work environments through various ergonomic adjustments to allow for a good and comfortable working area.

The other main research area in the interview was the various ergonomic measures and strategies that have been employed at the work place to deal with obesity. In one case, there may not be obese people in the work place and hence there are provisions for such people just in case they are employed in a particular work place. On the other hand, there are already obese workers in the workplace and hence adjustments have already been made so as to be accommodative to such individuals. Various researches have showed that work efficiency varies for the obese workers and for the normal weight individuals. Obesity is mainly measured using the Body mass index and a person may have protrusions especially in the waist area where maybe most fats tend to be deposited. (Thomson 19).

In a sitting work space, obese workers using computers may have a hard time reaching the computer and working fast on it because of the added circumference area around their waistlines. Ergonomics aims at finding the best fit between individuals at the work place and general job conditions, therefore, for obesity at the work places, a condusive working place is modified to enable the obese worker to work comfortably from his/her work desk. The main strategies that have been employed here include having a working desk that has a computer which is within close proximity to the obese worker, since he/she cannot stretch his/her arm far enough like a normal sized individual because of the extra body fat especially around the waist.

The right anthropometric standards should be considered when making different work desks for different individuals with regard to their body weight. Also to be considered is the height of these individuals so that the chairs they sit on should enable them to have their feet well rested flat on the floor. Moreover, in previous years, chairs made were only able to support a weight of up to 250lbs but now chairs are able to hold the weight of up to 600lbs. This improves the employee’s productivity level because the person is comfortable and is therefore able to work effectively because of more stability. Such chairs also offer more adjustability options to the employees as they sit and work in their workspaces, since most of them are adjustable to suit the various heights and weights of these workers to fit comfortably.

Bending and lifting heavy objects may tend to be difficult for the obese worker so other ways of working can be used for this person. This will include a work policy that will have no floor storage of items but instead have items put on a higher place which is around the thigh or waist level so that it can be easier for such workers to pick up items if they are the ones required to do so. The obese workers, by the nature of their anthropometry cannot lift objects effectively from the ground as they have a greater risk of injuring their knees as they bend to pick up the heavy objects. Research has shown that even in taller obese individuals, this lifting of heavy objects on ground level is also equally a hard task. This aims at reducing work related injuries as a worker is very important in a workplace as all the labor force depends on all the people at the workplace (Missar, Gilmore and Glunz 8).

Obese workers in the work place tend to be prone to fatigue very fast especially if their work requires manual labor, long standing hours as well as a lot of movement. In this case, there should be well set out rotational hours, anti-fatigue equipment and resting areas where breaks can be taken. Research has shown that most work areas have put these ergonomic measures in place; for instance, workers in some companies are required to alternate standing and sitting so as to avoid standing for long periods which can lower productivity and increase fatigue levels. In addition, there has been the use of cart movers and trolleys which improve the movement of items as well as equipment without necessarily bending as they are easily pushed around effectively.

In the work place, there is handling of manual tools as well as equipment that has to be handled manually. The ergonomic strategies taken for the obese people handing heavy equipment is the handling of such equipment by carrying the around with trolleys instead of using arms or shoulders. In addition, when handling items such as drills and other power tools, the use of handle coatings and special gloves is important. This is because such tools produce a lot of vibration and therefore it is important to suppress these vibrations as they can be harmful to health of the workers. Moreover, a bit of movement around the workplace as the obese workers are carrying items around also assists in avoiding too much sedentary working and promotes efficiency of these workers. (Thiagarajan and Sanders 225).

Ergonomic strategies in the workplace also include a proper design of the computer keyboard and how well to place it on the working desk. The anthropometry of the obese worker is that the upper extremities of the person are larger and performing a task like typing on a standard keyboard may prove quite challenging and nearly impossible. The neutral wrist posture should be maintained when a person is working on the keyboard so that the arm support can also be effective when one is using the keyboard. Research has shown the various solutions available are the adjustable or split keyboard which is the most common and available keyboard for the obese worker. This assists to bring the desired neutral posture of the wrist so as to enable work efficiency without the person tiring out quickly and maintain the right posture so as to prevent back problems. In addition to this, the seat of the obese person should be well supportive of the back and legs so that when working on the keyboard, the back is well supported and the person can easily reach for the keyboard without having to be slouched on the seat or move too forward causing back pain due to improper back posture. (Atlas Ergonomics 10).

Further research findings show that ergonomic strategies to manage obesity at the work place are the use of equipment that reduces work injuries through falling and other ways. Easier movement without toppling over items, for instance, in a store has been made possible with the use of push carts which can be easily pushed around and in some cases; there are those that can be driven around with ease. For the obese workers, this is efficient as they can comfortably as they drive around the cart and for those that require pushing; this is equally efficient as the person can push this without bending and hurting his/her back.

The main areas of concern to the obese workers in a workplace are the upper extremity, lower back and lower extremities. For the waist area circumference, it is crucial that this is not pressed hard by the working desk as it will bring about discomfort when working. A solution for this is having a radius contour instead of a straight contour to the edge of the working surface. This will improve posture as it brings the work closer to the person and avoids stretching too far to reach out for other work items. Moreover, a corner set up is not advisable since this increases the need of the worker to reach for the keyboard and mouse and it creates a lot of stress on the upper extremity hence discomfort.

Research studies done regarding ergonomics and the workplaces have varied opinions and in this case, my findings show that most work places have provided the right work environments for the obese worker as this is part of the workforce that cannot be ignored. Most statistics have shown a large number of workers are increasingly getting into the obese bracket and so the work environment has to change to manage the same as these obese workers are also required to work and produce effectively just like their normal weight sized worker counterparts in their workplace.

Methodology

The research methodology used in this research project is mainly sampling of different groups of people, online documents with related information and focused group discussions. In sampling of different individuals, opinions were asked from around twenty five random individuals on their thoughts of what was being done in the work place to manage obesity in terms of enabling it to be a comfortable working environment. The age group of these respondents was between 25 years to 60 years, all of whom were working or have experience of being in a workplace. Most of their answers were varied but there were commonalities and most agreed that a lot has been put in place to ensure ergonometric considerations were put in place in workplaces to ensure the needs of the obese workers are catered for. This research methodology was more of a random sampling technique as not particular people participated in the research; rather it was any random person.

The other research method employed here was use of other research findings done elsewhere through reference to online documents. These findings from most researches done by other scholars and medical practitioners showed more ways in which the obese workers have been included wholly in the work environment; and the various ergonometric measures put in place to ensure that the workplace is equally conducive for them. In another perspective, these research findings also added that ergonometric measures are not the only way that can ensure obese workers to be comfortable in the work place but there should also be programs to enable such workers to deal with low self-esteem they may have. Having social programs together with ergonometric measures to enable a conducive working environment for the obese workers has been found to be most efficient.

The focused group discussion method of research was also used and it included as group of twelve individuals, mainly fellow students who have a work or internship experience in a busy workplace. The discussion group was interactive and most of the views given from the group equally showed that there have been measures taken in the field of ergonomics in ensuring the management of the obese worker in the workplace. However, there were disconnects as most members of the focused group were not very conversant with which exact measures had been employed in workplaces to manage obesity.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The research findings of the project have further provided insight of the ergonometric strategies used in the workplace to manage obesity. These measures have seen reduction in work discomforts that were earlier experienced by the obese workers since their anthropometry is different from their normal weight counterparts. Generally, the research findings have shown that the main discomfort area of the obese worker in the workplace is the working desk and seat and currently with new technology advancements, there are new desks and seats made especially for obese workers so as they can work efficiently without unnecessary fatigue. The findings are also in agreement about the various steps taken in ensuring the management of the obese worker in terms of ergonometric requirements. (Palmer, Brown and Hobson 279)

According to most of the literature findings, obesity is a condition that has become a common phenomenon in America (Ricciardelli and Caltabiano 394). Most of their findings have indicated that the obesity levels are because of the sedentary lifestyles as well as too much comfort in the workplace whereas there are still more measures being put in place to ensure a comfortable environment instead of dealing with the obesity problem. Therefore, as solutions are being offered to the obese at the workplace, measures should also be in place to promote a healthier lifestyle at the workplace as well as ways to promote a working environment that doesn’t make the worker lazier.

The significance of these findings is to find out what ways are being put forth in the work areas to enable a conducive environment for the obese worker as he/she should not be ignored as they are also part of the human workforce. Moreover, it provides insights on how obese workers can have their work stations modified in order to be more effective in being productive just like their other counterparts. My recommendations to the reader are that the research findings depicted here may be subject to change as dynamics of work places change too. However, major steps through anthropometry studies have been taken to have the proper ergonometric strategies in place so as to manage obesity in the work place.

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