What Does Ergonomic Hazards Mean?
An ergonomic hazard is a factor in a work, or other environment that could cause damage to the human musculoskeletal system. These hazards include repetitive strain injury, discomfort in an office chair or desk, poor design of a particular job or task at a workplace that causes injury, manual handling of heavy loads, and anything in the environment that leads to uncomfortable or unnatural body positioning that can lead to injury.
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Safeopedia Explains Ergonomic Hazards
Examples of musculoskeletal injury include things like carpal tunnel syndrome (a repetitive strain injury involving the hand and wrist) and tennis elbow (where a tendon in the elbow becomes inflamed). These are both repetitive strains from heavily repeated movement. In these cases the ergonomic hazard is repeated or forceful movement. Ergonomic hazards involve additional things like extreme temperatures, awkward positions from poorly designed work areas and tools or badly performed work activities.
