As the OT consultant on a corporation's ergonomics team, you notice increased incidence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in workers in the payroll department

Question

What do you present to your team to increase awareness of the problem and generate possible solutions?
A. The names of all the employees with injuries in the past year
B. A summary of the scope of injuries in that focused area and the effects on pro-duction, workers' compensation, and associated costs to the company
C. A suggestion for an aggressive company-wide education program involving all employees
D. A suggestion that all the injured workers complain to management

Answer 1

ANS: B
OT practitioners on a corporate ergonomics team must be careful to protect the confidentiality of individual workers. It is most effective to look at trends that indicate problem work areas or job tasks. It is more cost effective to address the most resource-draining problems first, and if they are just in one area (i.e., the payroll department), an aggressive company-wide program is not necessarily required.