Workplace Health & Safety

Easy Ways to Ensure Keyboard Comfort

Spending hours typing on a computer keyboard or typewriter can lead to back pain, neck pain and repetitive-stress injuries of the fingers, hands and wrists.

You can avoid such problems by practicing the following strategies.

COMFORT BASICS

• Take regular breaks throughout the day. Briefly rest your eyes every 30 minutes. Spend 10 to 30 seconds looking across the room or out a window. Take a 10-minute break every two hours. Get up and move around to relieve stress and reduce muscle tension. Gently shake your hands and wrists. Periodically stand up and stretch your whole body.
• Occasionally switch to other tasks that don't involve typing.

IMPROVE YOUR POSTURE

Improper posture can lead to aches and pains. To reduce stiffness, follow these suggestions:

• Sit with your back, head and neck in a line perpendicular to the floor. Don't lean or hunch over the keyboard.
• Keep your back at right angles to the floor and your thighs and forearms parallel to the floor when you sit.
• Avoid resting your elbows on the desk or chair armrests.
• Keep your shoulders down, not hunched or pulled up toward your head.

HAND AND WRIST PROTECTIONS

These tips can help reduce pain in your hands and wrists:

• Keep your wrists flat and in a straight line with your forearms.
• Learn how to type properly. Memorizing the keyboard and using the touch type method is more effective and puts less stress on the fingers than using the hunt and peck approach to typing, in which you use awkward stretches to reach the keys.
• Keep your fingers and thumbs slightly curved, not straight and extended, while you're typing.
• Rest your hands frequently, relaxing them with your thumbs up.
• Avoid bending your wrists up and down or stretching your hands from side to side at the wrists. Keep hands and wrists in a straight line. Move your arms to reach for keys at the edge of your keyboard.
• Don't push or rest your wrists or forearms against hard desk edges; doing so can compress your nerves and cause or aggravate nerve problems.
• Do hand stretches before starting work and during short breaks.
• Don't rest the heels of your hands on the keyboard.
• Adjust portable equipment, such as a laptop computer, if you're using it for an extended period. You can attach a full-size keyboard and mouse to most laptops and raise the monitor to the correct height by placing it on a stand.

MOUSE MUSTS

Gripping and clicking a mouse improperly may lead to discomfort. When you use a mouse:

• Keep it within easy reach of the keyboard.
• Hold it gently; don't grasp or tap it forcefully.
• Avoid extending or flexing your wrist back while using the mouse. Concentrate on keeping your wrists even with your hands and forearms.

GET HELP

See your supervisor or a doctor if you develop any of the following symptoms. Prompt treatment can reduce your discomfort and speed your recovery.

• Tingling or numbness in the fingers
• Aching in the thumb
• Burning pain from the wrist to the fingers
• Change in touch or temperature sensation
• Weakness of grip or inability to pinch
• Swelling of hand and forearm.

Source: Vitality on Demand

Policy Spotlight

The Administrative/Staff Handbook can be found here or on the "V" drive at: V:\PUBLIC\HR\HANDBOOK

ALCOHOL ABUSE/DRUGFREE WORKPLACE AND CAMPUS POLICY

DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this section and the following subsections, the following terms shall be defined as hereinafter provided:

1."Controlled substance" means a controlled substance identified or described in

Schedules I through V of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C.812) as further defined by regulation at 21 C.F.R. 1300.11 through 1300.15, and/or as defined by the state of California, as amended from time to time;

2."Conviction" means a finding of guilt (including a plea of nolo contendere) or

imposition of sentence, or both, by any judicial body charged with the responsibility to determine violations of the federal or state criminal drug statutes;

3. "Criminal drug statute" means a federal, state, or other nonfederal criminal statute involving the manufacture, distribution, dispensing, use or possession of any controlled substance;

4. "Grant" means an award of financial assistance, including a cooperative agreement, in the form of money, or property in lieu of money, by a federal agency directly to a grantee. The 19 term grant includes block grant and entitlement grant programs, whether or not exempted from coverage under the grants management government wide regulation (Uniform Administrative Local Governments). The term does not include technical assistance which provides services instead of money or other assistance in the form of loans, loan guarantees, interest subsidies, insurance or direct appropriations; or any veterans' benefits to individuals, i.e., any benefit to veterans, their families or  survivors by virtue of the service of a veteran in the Armed Forces of the United States.

GENERAL STATEMENT

The University prohibits the unlawful or unauthorized manufacture, distribution, dispensing, possession or consumption, sale or use of controlled substances on or in University owned or controlled property or in the course of University business or activities. The University prohibits the distribution, dispensing, possession; consumption, sale or use of alcoholic beverages on or in University owned or controlled property and facilities. Individuals or entities including, but not limited to, students, employees, contractors, agents, volunteers or invitees, who violate this policy shall be subject to discipline, termination/dismissal, debarment, arrest or citation, as applicable. Additionally, employees or students who violate this policy may be required to participate satisfactorily in a drug or alcohol abuse assistance or rehabilitation program approved by the University. University employees and independent contractors must not report to work or be on University controlled property while under the influence of any drugs or alcohol or other substance which will in any way affect their work performance, alertness, coordination or response, or affect the safety of others on the job, or which would affect their ability to appropriately represent the University. Any employee who is required to use a medically prescribed or over-the-counter drug that may impair or affect the employee’s alertness, coordination or responses must advise their supervisor of this fact before reporting to work. It is the employee’s responsibility to determine whether or not a prescribed or over-the-counter drug may impair their job performance. The University reserves the right to require any employee using prescribed or over-the-counter drugs to provide a physician’s certification that the use of the drug will not impair the ability of the employee to perform their job properly and safely. The University may require random drug testing based upon a supervisor’s reasonable suspicion of drug and alcohol use on the part of an employee. Supervisors must coordinate this testing through the Human Resources Department. Continued employment is contingent upon1) taking the test, and 2) passing the drug and alcohol screening.

GRANTS/RECIPIENTS/PARTICIPANTS

Employees who are authorized to work on any grant shall, as a condition of acceptance of and prior to commencing any such work, be required to abide by the provisions of and to execute and deliver to the University a certification on a form as follows:

UNIVERSITY RESPONSE

No later than 20 calendar days after receiving a notification of a drug statute conviction as required in section 2.11.13.1.2 above, the University shall act as follows, with respect to any employee so convicted:

1. take personnel action against such employee to include any range of authorized disciplinary actions up to termination/dismissal; and/or

2. require such employee to participate satisfactorily in a drug abuse assistance or rehabilitation program approved by the University.

In addition, the University shall notify the agency, which awarded the grant under which the employee was working at the time of the incident leading to the conviction, of the notification received under section 2.11.13.1.3, no later than ten (10) calendar days after actual receipt.

EDUCATION

The University, through the Human Resources Office, annually distributes to employees, faculty and students information concerning the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse in the workplace, the provisions of section 2.11.13.1 above, available drug or alcohol counseling, rehabilitation and employee assistance programs, and the personnel actions which employees are subject to as a consequence of their violation of the provisions of section 2.11.13.1.1 above, or the conviction of a criminal drug statute for a violation occurring on or in University owned or controlled property or in the course of University business or activities.