An Ergonomic Analysis of Employees working in a Multi-Screen Video Display Terminal

Abstract

Company XYZ is a North American paper manufacturing company located in Wisconsin. The employees who work at video display terminals of Company XYZ have pain and discomfort in the lower and upper back, neck and shoulder areas. The pain and discomfort may decrease the employee morale and cause a loss in productivity. The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors associated with the use of computers using an ergonomic analysis and to make recommendations to management in order to reduce the risks to an acceptable level. The objective of this research was to eliminate the WRMSD and complaints of employees who work in a control room at Company XYZ. The researcher’s analysis results indicated that the employees who work in multi- screen video display terminal are exposed to some of the primary ergonomic risk factors, resulting in WRMSDs. Therefore, a further investigation is needed, and change should be implemented. Based on the results, the researcher concluded that effective control methods should be analyzed, selected and implemented in order to reduce the ergonomic-based risk factors that exist at Company XYZ’s VDT. These conclusions were used to make recommendations to reduce the ergonomic-based risk factors at the multi-screen computer workstation.