The Leadership Team for the San Joaquin Valley Business Unit of ChevronTexaco had taken a proactive approach to ergonomics for several years. Despite these efforts, however, workers continued to experience Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSIs). Clearly, it was time to use a more creative strategy to prevent these injuries.
ChevronTexaco management realizes that it needs a focused approach to reduce repetitive stress injuries if the company ergonomics program is to reach world class status. The result is a global initiative known as the Repetitive Stress Injury Prevention Program (RSIPP). The program is a company standard accepted by the Corporation Management Committee as a best practice to prevent RSIs. This case study explores the refinements that this program has undergone within the San Joaquin Valley Business Unit (SJVBU) and its evolution into the holistic program that it is today.
There are almost 1000 employees within this business unit, plus about 250 Contractors who work regularly on company computers. Because of improvements in technology and the resulting process changes, employees now spend greater amounts of time behind a keyboard than they once did. Many jobs that were previously hands-on operations positions have developed into supervisory or automation positions that require more time working on a computer or control panel. The average age for employees is about 46 years old. With this aging workforce now spending more computer time, the risk of computer workstation related repetitive stress injuries increases. Older workers' bodies are storehouses of stresses and strains dating back to the time before ergonomics entered the national psyche.
To ensure that the company is prepared for the future, there is an aggressive hiring strategy. Locally, management plans to add 75 young technical employees within the next 5 years. These young people are coming to work with as many as 16 or more years of keyboard use (abuse?) at notoriously poor computer workstations at school. This poor ergonomic history puts many younger employees at greater risk for RSIs over the course of their working life than many older people who have been working with computers for just a few years. Younger workers, on average, tend to be more physically fit, and therefore less conscious of nagging aches and pains than older workers, so they may not feel the effects of their previously poor ergonomic habits for several years to come. Some of these young people may already be on the path towards an RSI before they ever start their first "real" job.
Repetitive Stress Injuries began to show up in the business unit with unsettling regularity. In 2002 RSIs accounted for 45% of the OSHA recordables for the business unit. This is after RSIPP was already in place. In 2002, RSIPP consisted of ergonomic awareness training for all personnel and a computerized self assessment performed by all employees and contractors with access to company computers. This was followed with an evaluation by a Certified Workstation Evaluator (CWE) or ergonomist.
