United Health Kent

Did you know that physiotherapists can help keep your staff healthy and improve productivity?

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) including back pain are one of the biggest causes of sickness absence on any given day.

Early access to physiotherapy ensures:

• Prompt injury advice and treatment
• Early return to work or advice on work capabilities
• Quicker rehabilitation time

Employees are a workplaces most valuable asset. Investment in preventing injuries and helping employees with injuries pays back normally £3 for every £1 invested – that is a pretty good return on investment!

Call us today to see how we can help you.

There are many useful ergonomic tools online including some for manual handling and push/pull forces. Visit the HSE website for further details.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/search/search-results.htm?q=ergonomics#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=ergonomics&gsc.page=1

What is occupational health?

Traditionally occupational health was a ‘medical’ reactive process diagnosing health effects and illness, promoting good health, reducing risks by controlling exposures and preventing ill health. Today it has to justify itself economically and is a service that looks to protect both the employee and the employer.

Over the last 10 years there has been massive change and growth in occupational health and rehabilitation services. This has been due to new legislation, EU Health & Safety directives, DWP government initiatives, the Equality Act, human rights, the working time directive, age legislation, on-going changes in the structure and charging for NHS services, pension issues and rehabilitation initiatives.

It means occupational health has become far more sophisticated. We can help to reduce risks to the employee and the employer, at the same time providing a service that maintains a level of commercial awareness and seeks to demonstrate a return on investment.

Display Screen Equipment (DSE) is a device or equipment that has an alphanumeric or graphic display screen, regardless of the display process involved; it includes both conventional display screens and those used in emerging technologies such as laptops, touch-screens and other similar devices.

The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 aim to protect the health of people who work with DSE. The Regulations were introduced because DSE has become one of the most common kinds of work equipment.

Call us today to see how our expert DSE assessors can help ensure your staff are working safely.

Our one day comprehensive course will ensure that attendees are competent and efficient in assessing DSE work stations.

Contact us today to see how we can help your organisation support colleagues using DSE equipment.

We offer DSE risk assessor training for managers, health and safety staff or EHS colleagues who which to learn how to undertake DSE assessments for their staff. Our one day training course will equip participants with the knowledge of how to undertake a comprehensive DSE assessment in line with DSE legislation.

Having in house DSE risk assessors ensures that all employees have access to an assessment, helping to solve any issues quickly and thus avoiding the need for potentially costly interventions or staff absence.

If you would like further details please see our website or email sarah@unitedhealthkent.com

The Council for Work and Health says that occupational health should be integrated into mainstream healthcare. It calls for partnerships between employers and healthcare providers.

Physiotherapists are critical in supporting people with injuries and helping them to remain at work or helping them to return to work quickly.

We help both small and large businesses locally to help keep their workforce healthy. Contact us to see how we can help you look after your most valuable asset – your employees.

The HSE highlights the benefits of having onsite physiotherapy services at work.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/experience/phisiotherapy.htm

Call us today to see how we can help you to reduce sickness absence.

What can I do to help myself?

Make full use of the equipment provided, and adjust it to get the best from it and to avoid potential health problems.  The Health and Safety Executive provide the following tips:

Getting Comfortable:

Adjust your chair and VDU to find the most comfortable position for your work. As a broad guide, your forearms should be approximately horizontal and your eyes the same height as the top of the VDU.

Make sure you have enough work space to take whatever documents or other equipment you need.

Try different arrangements of keyboard, screen, mouse and documents to find the best arrangement for you. A document holder may help you avoid awkward neck and eye movements.

Arrange your desk and VDU to avoid glare, or bright reflections on the screen. This will be easiest if neither you nor the screen is directly facing windows or bright lights. Adjust curtains or blinds to prevent unwanted light.

Make sure there is space under your desk to move your legs freely. Move any obstacles such as boxes or equipment.

Avoid excess pressure from the edge of your seat on the backs of your legs and knees. A footrest may be helpful, particularly for smaller users.

Keying in:

Adjust your keyboard to get a good keying position. A space in front of the keyboard is sometimes helpful for resting the hands and wrists when not keying.

Try to keep your wrists straight when keying. Keep a soft touch on the keys and don’t overstretch your fingers. Good keyboard technique is important.

Using a mouse:

Position the mouse within easy reach, so it can be used with the wrist straight. Sit upright and close to the desk, so you don’t have to work with your mouse arm stretched. Move the keyboard out of the way if it is not being used.

Support your forearm on the desk, and don’t grip the mouse too tightly.

Rest your fingers lightly on the buttons and do not press them hard.

Reading the screen:

Adjust the brightness and contrast controls on the screen to suit lighting conditions in the room.

Make sure the screen surface is clean.

In setting up software, choose options giving text that is large enough to read easily on your screen, when you are sitting in a normal, comfortable working position. Select colours that are easy on the eye (avoid red text on a blue background, or vice-versa).

Individual characters on the screen should be sharply focused and should not flicker or move. If they do, the VDU may need servicing or adjustment.

Posture and breaks

Don’t sit in the same position for long periods. Make sure you change your posture as often as practicable. Some movement is desirable, but avoid repeated stretching to reach things you need (if this happens a lot, rearrange your workstation)

Most jobs provide opportunities to take a break from the screen, e.g. to do filing or photocopying. Make use of them. If there are no such natural breaks in your job, your employer should plan for you to have rest breaks. Frequent short breaks are better than fewer long ones.

A company can claim tax relief for up to £500 per employee, per year for any health related interventions including physiotherapy.

This makes such interventions very cost effective.

With musculoskeletal disorders accounting for 49% of sickness absence physiotherapists are perfectly placed to support employers manage these cases.

Contact us to find out how we could help you keep your staff fit for work.

When are assessments required?

Whenever:

• You have been allocated a new workstation
• The workstation is relocated
• New hardware is introduced
• New furniture is introduced
• Working practices are altered or new software is introduced
• Significant changes are made to the lighting
• The workstation is to be used by a different operator
• At regular intervals e.g. Every 2 years