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120. Ergonomic factors. Health effects of inorganic and organic dusts and their prevention
- Ergonomics
- = how the workplace and equipment can be best used for comfort, safety, and productivity
- Physical ergonomics = how the body responds to work
- Cognitive ergonomics = how the mind responds to work
- Organizational ergonomics = how work organization can be optimized
- Applying ergonomics improves productivity, reduces cost, improves quality of work, and reduces absence
- Especially musculoskeletal disorders can be prevented by ergonomics
- Back pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Tennis elbow
- The work should adapt to the worker, not opposite
- Principles of applying ergonomics
- Work in neutral posture
- Reduce excessive force
- Keep everything within reach
- Work at proper height
- Reduce excessive motion
- Minimize fatigue and static load
- Minimize pressure points
- Provide clearance
- Move, exercise, and stretch
- Maintain a comfortable environment
- Example: Nurses give surgeons their tools, so that the surgeons don’t lose their focus
- Health effects of inorganic and organic dusts
- Inorganic dusts
- Coal dust – causes Coal Worker’s Pneumoconiosis
- In coal workers
- Often asymptomatic
- Silica – causes silicosis
- In ceramics, glassblowing, mining, etc.
- Asbestos – causes asbestosis (= mesothelioma)
- Working with products containing asbestos, like isolation, car breaks, etc.
- Organic dusts
- Cotton dust – causes byssinosis
- Tobacco – causes “tobaccosis” (= lung cancer, COPD)
- Grain dust – causes Farmer’s Lungs
- Prevention