TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I am not selling anything regarding ergonomics. However, many years
ago while I was doing some consulting work at Xerox' El Segundo, CA
location, one of the data entry clerks had developed a fairly severe
problem with RSI.
One of the managers I was working with on another project entirely
knew I was interested in the entire human factors area, and he asked
me to suggest some ways in which the lady involved might get better.
(She was a contract employee, and as such did not have company medical
benefits).
It turns out she had given up a highly adjustable chair for one that
was "more comfortable"...and that she had been leaning back while
keeping her head turned sharply to read the pages of information she
was entering into their computer.
I brought back the more adjustable chair and showed her how to adjust
it, and moved the copy holder immediately next to her computer
monitor. Next, I changed her task lighting somewhat.
She reported it was a much more comfortable position to work from, and
had substantial relief within a very few weeks. However, as it had
taken a long time to develop, there were no "quick fix" solutions.
Removing the source of the postural problems, however, put her on the
road to recovery.
If you did a little research, you would find out that the *reason*
there are companies specializing in this area is simply that many
companies pay too little attention to it...but the problems that
attend insufficient ergonomic concentration have caused such a raise
in healthcare costs that they have become much more attentive to the
problem in recent years.
The medical and occupational health literature is substantial--and the
problems are quite real, I'm afraid.
ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl
WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
