As an aspiring industrial consultant, I spend a lot of time looking at the portions of industry that cause business owners a great amount of hassle and cost a lot of money. Out of a large number of such issues, my favorite to work on is the prevention on Cumulative Trauma Disorders (CTDs). The reason that CTDs are so interesting is that they are simply unavoidable and extremely costly.

Cumulative Trauma Disorders are injuries that are sustained from extremely repetitive motion. They can take a number of forms depending on the type of motion in question, and often cause debilitating pain or discomfort. These injuries not only cost employers money through medical bills, but also as a result of employees missing work due to injury.

This problem leaves employers to weigh their options. The easiest and cheapest ways to manufacture are often those with the highest risk of causing CTDs. In order to prevent CTDs among workers, employees can use a number of techniques that are often costly and difficult to implement. The bottom line is that they are left with the choice of spending the money to fix the system – or risk the significantly higher cost of workman’s comp.

CTDs can happen in most settings for a vast array of occupations. Therefore, when examining the risks of operation, the employer must take into account the types of injuries that are likely. For desk jobs, employers can expect to see issues with wrists and necks. Simple manufacturing is more likely to have elbow and shoulder injuries due to the nature of the movement. Additionally, any job which requires heavy lifting, can expect lower back pain. It is important to note here, that we are not only talking about costing money, but also the bigger picture of causing harm to employees. As forward-thinking entrepreneurs, we must approach the matter from a social-humanitarian perspective, and realize that it is the social responsibility of employers to care for the well-being of employees.

So what can we do about it? What can we REALLY do about it? The idea of the social responsibility is all well and good until a struggling business find no cash at the end of the month to improve anything. Matters have become even worse in recent years as governing bodies have been cracking down. Though this is great for the social side, inspections and fines seem to only make things more difficult for the owners. The good news is there are tons of resources. The same governing bodies also offer a lot of excellent information. In fact, even a number of states, such as New Jersey and Connecticut, have their own documents to provide with business owners about CTDs.

All of the different resources have slightly different approaches to the problem, but there are a few things everyone can agree on:

1. CTDs are a huge problem for employers and employees.

2. The best way to prevent CTDs is to ergonomically redesign workstations.

3. Making major changes to an established business can cost a great deal of time, energy, and money.

4. Ultimately, the choice is made for us. Pinching the extra penny somewhere else in the business in order to pay for a new workstation is worth it. Introducing ergonomics to a business is guaranteed to lower the risk of CTDs. In the long run, this investment pays off in the wallet and on the conscience.