Are you struggling to work because of daily aches and pains at your desk?
As a business owner, is staff absence due to work-related injuries costing you money?
It is becoming more and more common to find people in the workplace who are suffering with a variety of soft tissue and joint problems which are directly related to their roles. This may lead to periods of absence, placing further strain upon remaining staff members and ultimately affecting the productivity and motivation of a team within a business.
Examples of typical work-related complaints include:
- Back ache
- Neck pain
- Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)
- Painful joints
- Poor posture
In more severe and longer-term cases, conditions such as these may lead to litigation, costing businesses more money and adversely affecting staff morale.
PEAK Physiotherapy Limited provides a comprehensive and cost-effective portfolio of Occupational Health Services for a wide variety of businesses, including on-site ergonomic and work-station screening and associated reports and recommendations. We aim to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (as listed above) in the workplace, and also to help individuals to rapidly return to work following an injury.
Specialist services we provide include:
- On-site workstation assessment/risk assessment for individuals or large companies
- Advice on musculoskeletal management of employees
- Work capacity assessment
- Functional capacity assessment
- Return to work programmes
- Individual/group back 'schools', advising on back care, injury prevention and management
Our Occupational Health Physiotherapist is ACPOHE registered and previous clients have included United Utilities, Equifax, Zolv.com and Montpelier (Leeds) Ltd Accountants.
The Facts
All employers have a duty of care to protect the health and safety of their employees. However, lack of expertise in injury management and in individual workstation design can allow costly mistakes to be made resulting in increased sickness absence and decreased productivity.
RSI costs employers almost £300 million per annum in lost working time, sick pay and administration (ACPOHE, 2008).
The cost of sickness absence in local authorities alone has been estimated at up to £900 million each year (The Ministerial Taskforce for Health, Safety and Productivity/The Cabinet Office).
Poor posture whilst sat at a computer can cause more back problems than the excessive lifting and carrying done by manual workers (Workplace Law Network, October 2006).
No one person is the same...
On-line DSE assessments/courses may enable employees to gain a basic insight into a correct workstation set-up. However, a physiotherapist specialising in this area can provide a more in-depth assessment geared towards the individual, and tailor-make the workstation to 'fit' that individual, along with suitable stretching exercises addressing their specific issues and pains.
An individual assessment should include:
- History and assessment of musculoskeletal problems.
- Postural assessment of the individual.
- Assessment of the individual's role and tasks at work.
- Thorough workstation assessment leading to:
- appropriate and optimal workstation set-up.
- individually-tailored stretching exercises and advice.
- full ergonomic report package containing all the above information, available to the employee as a referral guide, and to Management as protection against litigation.
Work station seminars:
PEAK Physiotherapy can provide specialist workstation seminars for on-site assessors within companies.
The aim of these seminars is to provide on-site assessors with a more in-depth knowledge of workstation assessments and related issues, which will in turn provide employees with a more thorough and informed workstation assessment to suit their needs. By the end of the seminar, each delegate should be able to:
- Carry out a standard but thorough workstation assessment and subsequently use their knowledge and training to organise that workstation to suit an individual's specific needs.
- Identify and understand common workstation-related problems and potential hazards.
- Understand the common work-related musculoskeletal disorders/injuries and how to identify at what point an individual may need a more advanced workstation assessment, adaptations and referral on to other professionals.
- Advise all employees on basic stretching exercises and postures that may help prevent work-related injuries.
Costs
- On-site individual workstation assessment (including report package): £100
- On-site individual workstation assessment for 2-5 users: £90 each
- On-site individual workstation assessment for 6-9 users: £80 each
- Workstation seminar for up to 20 delegates: £250
(Plus Travel Expenses)
For further information regarding this service, please contact our Clinical Director Sarah Joice on 07908 684441.