Marjorie Werrell, AS ’84, and Zachary Koutsandreas, BE ’84, have created a successful consulting company based on the concept of fitting the workplace to the worker, as opposed to making the worker fit the workplace.
Ergonomics is not a buzzword in the mainstream workforce, but it will be, according to the two owners of Ergoworks Consulting. Large and small companies, as well as the federal government, have found they can stave off worker’s compensation claims and ergonomic injuries by adapting the workplace, they say.
The couple met as undergraduates at UD: She was a physical therapy major; he was studying business management. They married shortly after graduation, with Werrell heading straight into the medical arena, while Koutsandreas ventured into the business world.
Frustrated because the medical community wouldn’t let her focus on the ergonomic needs of her patients, Werrell decided to form her own business in 1991. Koutsandreas soon joined her as business development manager, handling the day-to-day operations.
Today, the company does ergonomic consulting in the Maryland area and on the Washington, D.C., beltway–with clients ranging from secretaries and office managers at small businesses, to senators and employees of branches of the federal government. "Every day is different," says Werrell, from the couple’s home in Gaithersburg, Md. "For example, tomorrow I will go to see a client who has invested in a contract with us for one year, and I will do individual work-station analysis."
It may have been the pro-active nature of ergonomics that kept it out of the mainstream workforce for so long. But, even if that’s so, it’s exactly the reason that ergonomics is in such popular demand now, she says.
"According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, ergonomic injuries cost in excess of $20 billion annually," explains Koutsandreas, "The average settlement in these cases has risen steadily and is currently more than $52,000."
"The old approach by business management was, ‘Here is your job and equipment. Now, you change to fit the environment,’" Koutsandreas adds. "The crippling effects of this philosophy became clear as cases of repetitive motion disorders began to zoom."
Common ergonomic risk factors include repetition, force, awkward postures, excessive lifting and twisting and, even, static positions, he says.
According to Werrell, working on a computer six to eight hours a day, five days a week is akin to walking 10 miles with your fingers. If you don’t have a neutral wrist position, the cumulative results could be painful.
Mouse and keyboard alignment, backrest height, mouse level and monitor distance, as well as posture and position, can make the difference in the physical well-being of an employee–and result in fewer lost work days due to pain or injury.
"It’s amazing," says Werrell. "I’ve made some minor adjustments for people, and they’ve e-mailed me the next day to say that it’s made a major difference."
More and more people in the workforce may be feeling the difference as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration revises its Code of Federal Regulations–the laws that govern business management–to include ergonomic standards before the year 2000.
Already, Werrell and Koutsandreas have an impressive portfolio of clients, including the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, where they evaluated and made recommendations for its entire cadre of printers.
To date, many companies have contacted the pair as a response to worker’s compensation claims or reduced productivity due to such claims, but the couple says others are sizing up the financial benefits of a pro-active analysis.
One major newspaper company, which had claims of more than $2 million per year, reduced its claims to just $200,000 three years after Werrell and Koutsandreas initiated a full-scale ergonomics program.
For them, it’s all in a day’s work–work that has brought them full circle from their evenings studying together on campus.
Not every couple can work together and maintain a healthy relationship, and Werrell and Koutsandreas admit to a few problems: "We still argue over whose turn it is to take out the office trash or make coffee," says Koustandreas.
–Christi Milligan