SECTION III Service Systems
5.6 Accomplishments and Performance Metrics
work itself. One booklet was targeted directly at office-related tasks, while the other addressed stressors encountered at home. Finally, as is true of most large institutions, Sandia has a comprehensive ES&H Manual. The CEG, with help from its California colleagues, developed a manual chapter containing a complete set of ergonomic guidelines for office work (McMahon and Miller, 1995). The manual is now issued electronically on the Sandia intranet. Although none of these products was particularly innovative, excepting perhaps the exercise booklets, the concise format, familiar style, and repackaging of information made them extremely useful to Sandia employees.
Software
Throughout the program’s life, various software packages were evaluated for both CEG and customers’
use. We always looked at price and ease of use as foremost considerations in addition to functionality and time savings. Some of the packages we evaluated were more vaporware than actual product, and many of the legitimate, finished, commercial products were extremely difficult to use. Several were so costly that we decided we could do the work manually. We chose LifeGuard® for reminding serious computer users to take alternative-work breaks occasionally, and ErgoSmart® for general information in a question/answer format. Site licensing made these products affordable. In an unrelated feasibility project, the WSE checklist was programmed into a pen-based portable computer, designed for field data collection and automated database entry. Despite showing initial promise, problems with battery life and handwriting recognition software in the feasibility testing precluded implementation.
5-8 Occupational Ergonomics: Design and Management of Work Systems
recommendations in 1 to 3 months due to dictation delays. Feedback time was reduced to less than one week by using a computer template distributed to all CEG members.
In the last two years, training has reached approximately half of the Sandia population. This is not remarkable unless you consider that it was not required training, except for incoming secretaries. Feed- back on the instructors and content has been very favorable, and most attendees loved the aforementioned video. A few managers have adopted the surveillance checklists in their yearly walkthroughs, generating additional requests for WSEs.
Reductions in Pain and Suffering
Four out of five (79%) symptomatic customers who made the recommended ergonomic improvements experienced symptom relief in the 1994 quality survey. This figure was up from the 1992 figure of 70%
(see Figure 5.5). From a medical case standpoint, before we could calculate our gains on work-related musculoskeletal disorders, we had to establish criteria for case inclusion. We defined them as cumulative trauma illnesses or musculoskeletal soft-tissue injury (such as a strain) obtained while performing a repeated, regular job task in a less than ideal manner (a manner that could be improved using common ergonomic practices). We also put on the stipulation that the injury or illness occurred while performing assigned work, leaving out the weight-room lifting injuries of the guard force, and the occasional luggage- toting strain experienced during business travel. These restrictions tended to make our performance metrics conservative.
Using the data-inclusion criteria, we calculated numbers of cases, and associated costs for four years of the program (Figure 5.6). As can be easily observed, both the number of cases and the associated costs have consistently dropped over the four-year period. The costs were calculated using a conservative formula developed for Department of Energy (DOE) contractor facilities in 1988, accounting for lost work time, lost productivity, and medical expenses. In the years 1993 to 1995, the costs associated with cumulative trauma were 30% higher than other cases, and required almost 16 days away from work, compared to 9 days away for other types of work-related injuries and illnesses (Figure 5.7).
As might be expected in a research and development laboratory, upper extremity cases consistently outnumbered spinal problems in the three years audited (Figure 5.8). When analyzed for job location and type of work being performed, the pattern shown in Figure 5.9 obtained. Office workers suffered the most, followed by material handlers and laborers, with laboratory technicians and crafts/trades people showing the fewest WRMSDs.
FIGURE 5.4 Number of worksite evaluations and chair fittings performed.
Was There Return on Investment?
Perhaps the ultimate metric for program success is a benefit-cost analysis, taking into account how much money was expended and what was gained as a result. Figure 5.10 compares program budget figures and costs associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders for the years 1993 through 1996. (The program costs do not include equipment purchases made by employees, or costs involved with remodeling work areas, only the money spent on developing and administering the program.) As the figure suggests, the costs associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders were over a million dollars each year prior to 1995. The program’s budget was about $160k in 1992, followed by $280k and $585k in 1993 and 1994, respectively. Although we cannot claim a clean cause and effect relationship (we had no control
FIGURE 5.5 Relief of symptoms and overall customer satisfaction.
FIGURE 5.6 Ergonomics-related cases as percent of total recordable cases and total costs.
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over other factors), the precipitous fall in illness costs in 1995 and 1996 suggests that the program had some effect in turning around a dangerous trend of increasing costs in the early 1990s. By 1996, the costs associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders had been reduced to approximately one sixth of what they were in 1994. The program’s budget was trimmed back systematically in 1995, 1996, and 1997, taking advantage of the early development work and stressing implementation of the processes created in prior years. Budget projections for 1997 are just above the $100k figure, signaling an 80% decrease since 1994.
Was the money well spent? I am sure the employees and contractors who received the advice and work-design benefits would reply with an emphatic “yes.” Approximately 80% of the recommendations made to employees were implemented, despite customers having to purchase their own furniture and accessories. Statistically, a rapidly increasing trend in work-related musculoskeletal disorders was turned around to an even more rapidly decreasing trend. Over the four years analyzed, the money saved was equivalent to the money spent. However, if the costs associated with work-related musculoskeletal disorders remained at the 1996 level, cost savings would amount to about $800k per year, using 1993 as the reference point. At the current funding level of $120k, this would amount to over a 6.7:1 return on
FIGURE 5.7 Average lost days and costs associated with ergonomics-related illnesses.
FIGURE 5.8 Number of upper-extremity and spine-related cases by year.
investment. We also discovered in our quality surveys that half of our customers perceived their produc- tivity to increase after having implemented ergonomic improvements. Subjective estimates ranged from 5 to 15%. Assuming 135 people, paid $40,000 in salary increased their productivity 7%, the company would have gained another $378k per year in increased or improved work. With estimates of increased productivity figured in, the return on investment increases to just under 10:1.