In the fall of 1998, a handful of executives at Bruner-Cox, a regional accounting and business consulting firm based in Canton, began reading in business publications about a troubling new trend.
The increased usage of computers and other electronic devices had brought repetitive stress injuries, a problem once thought to affect only factory workers and manual laborers, into the office. The information prompted office administrator Sharon Barb to walk around Bruner-Cox’s Akron office to watch employees as they worked.
“We’ve got people who will have to sit at a keyboard during tax season for maybe 12 hours,” says marketing manager Diana McGonigal.
Those impromptu walks around the office turned into the first phase of a company-funded research project that brought body-friendly changes to the Bruner-Cox offices. In the summer of 1999, the company invited representatives of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to visit its Akron and Canton offices, evaluate the working environment and make recommendations for change.
Bruner-Cox then began working with Summerville’s, an Akron-based office furniture and supply company, to implement those suggestions.
One of the first things it did was provide employees with laptop computers — a staple in an accounting firm — with big-screen monitors, standard-size, ergonomically correct keyboards and special mouses, eliminating the discomfort of hunching over and typing on what is essentially a kid-sized contraption. Desks were equipped with adjustable keyboard trays that can be raised 10 inches above the work surface, allowing workers to stand and type, if they desire.
“If you’re deskbound for many hours, you need to move around a little bit,” says Pete Tucker, a manager at Summerville’s.
Other facets of ergonomics — which Tucker simply defines as making a work environment safe for employees — include acoustics and lighting. The company installed deep parabolic lighting in the ceilings to reduce glare and “task lighting” at each work station. Panels systems made of a sound-absorbing material were used to control noise, another obstacle to productivity.
But perhaps the most noticeable improvement for some employees was the chairs. Bruner-Cox replaced its hodgepodge of seating with state-of-the-art counterparts featuring gelcap “flipper arms” that move up and down and rotate 360 degrees, as well as the more standard seat pan and back that adjust independently of one another.
“Every piece on this chair is completely adjustable,” McGonigal marvels. “It looks like something out of Star Trek.”
Once the ergonomic interventions were in place, employees were educated in how to use them. A manufacturing representative, for example, was brought in to teach workers about proper posture and how to adjust the chairs to foster it.
Educating each employee about the importance of ergonomics was both time-consuming and costly, but the results are worth the effort, according to Lou Maglione, the partner in charge of Bruner-Cox’s Akron office.
“Anything we can do for our employees to improve their comfort and, ultimately, their productivity, is a good use of our resources,” he says. How to reach: Bruner-Cox, (330) 376-0100
Lynne Thompson is a free-lance writer for SBN.
