If your job tasks include performing the same movements regularly, you could be at risk for developing a repetitive motion injury. Almost any job can be at risk for this type of injury, though some are more likely to cause one than others.
Using your phone on a regular basis is taking a toll on your body. Here are examples:
Smartphone pinky: Twitter users have been sharing photos of how their pinky fingers are bent, dented, and deformed thanks to too-big smartphones. Popular Science suggests these dents are temporary, but hand surgeon Rachael Rohde warns that these dents could be a sign of a different condition.
People who spend lots of time on their smartphones may be scrolling, tapping and swiping their way to carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful wrist and hand disorder.
A small study found a link between extended use of smartphones and other hand-held electronic devices and a greater likelihood for experiencing the telltale wrist and hand pain of the syndrome.
Texting, playing video games, and even taking too many selfies can all lead to repetitive stress injuries.
“In my own practice and via discussions with other musculoskeletal providers, patients, young and mature, are unaware of the risk of injury from their smartphones,” Dr. Renee Enriquez, rehabilitation specialist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, told Healthline.
Office workers can develop damaged thumbs from texting and emailing on their phones.
Smartphones force your thumb to make repetitive, awkward movements. “We’re getting more thumb and wrist tendonitis,” says Karen Jacobs, an occupational therapist at Boston University and the founding editor of the interdisciplinary journal Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation. “It’s an issue we all have to be mindful of.”
New restrictions on how long injured federal workers can get prescription opioids have been implemented by the DOL's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, as a way of protecting the workers from the risks of long-term opioid use. The DOL controls – which impose a 7-day limit on the initial fill of an opioid prescription - will apply to injured federal workers receiving benefits under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act.
Contrary to previously announced plans, OSHA will not revoke all of the ancillary provisions in its Beryllium Standards for Construction and Shipyards. Beryllium is a strong, lightweight metal used in the aerospace, telecommunications, information technology, defense, medical, and nuclear industries. Workers who are exposed to beryllium – by inhaling or contacting it in the air or on surfaces - are at risk for developing beryllium disease and lung cancer.
National Employ Older Workers Week takes place the final week in September and recognizes the vital role of older workers [U.S. DOL 2019]. By 2020, workers aged 55 and over will likely make up about 25 percent of the U.S. workforce [BLS 2018]. Within the Wholesale and Retail Trade (WRT) Sector alone, in 2017 almost 4.5 million workers (more than 22 percent) are over age 55, up from 3.8 million workers in 2011 [BLS 2018].
For Kevin Emerick, workplace safety is no mere box to be checked on a To-Do List. It is about people. It is about family. It is about sending members of your work family home safe after each and every workday.
“With the median tenure at our company at almost 25 years, we are family, and the last thing you want to see is someone in your family get hurt or worse,” said Emerick (shown above), risk manager for Woodfold Mfg., Inc., a Forest Grove, Oregon-based company that makes custom-crafted accordion doors, roll-up doors, and hardwood shutters.
On-the-job exposure to high levels of pesticides raised the risk of heart disease and stroke in a generally healthy group of Japanese American men in Hawaii, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the open access journal of the American Heart Association (AHA).
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