The 5 E's

The five E's are the five aproaches that are used by industry experts to help prevent unintentional injuries. The five E's are as follows:

•Engineering - Technological changes such as tools with a more comfortable grip or automatic safety devices like air bags or anti-lock brakes in automobiles.

•Enforcement - Laws or regulations to help prevent the likelihood of injury occurance such as Seat Belt laws and restrictions to work hours.

•Education - Teaching and Training in order to invoke behavioral changes. Examples would be teaching ways to recognize undesired work habits that can lead to injuries or educating workers on how to prevent a repetative motion injury.

•Economic Incentives - Monetary incentives for utilizing injury prevention devices such as insurance premium discounts and tax breaks for installing safety devices. This can also include fines for non-compliance or codes or regulations.

•Emergency Response - When the other four methods do not prevent an injury, quick emergency response attempts to lessen the potential impact of an accident.

There is a good video that shows how Carpal Tunnel Syndrome occurs:

My view of how the Five E's can apply to Repetitive Motion Injuries

Engineering – There have been many things that have been done to help prevent these types of injuries from occurring. With hand injuries dominating this type of injury, tools and equipment have been redesigned to have more comfortable handles and fit the hands better. Keyboards are also available in different configurations to make typing more comfortable. Video game controllers have also been designed to fit the hand better and be more comfortable to use.

Enforcement – I am not sure that this can really apply to this type of injury. Since this is an injury that occurs over a period of time, there is no real way to prevent it from happening through the enforcement of rules. Maybe if there were rules within an employer to assist in preventing these injuries, those rules could be enforced as a means of prevention.

Education – In the workplace, there is an increased awareness about repetitive motion injuries. Workers are encouraged to take breaks when performing repetitive tasks. Worker rotations are a common suggestion to limit the amount of time each day a worker is exposed to such tasks. There can be more done in this area to make people aware of what causes these types of injuries.

Economic Incentives – Economic incentives are difficult to correlate to repetitive motion injuries. Providing discounts for purchasing known injury reducing products or incentives for practicing beneficial work habits are potential ways.

Emergency Response – This does not really apply to repetitive motion injuries since they are sustained over time and would not require an immediate response.

What does all of this mean to me?

Using the Five E's above, being able to change how you think about your hands, shoulders, back, etc. can be very beneficial. While I know that it is sometimes difficult to think about injury prevention, a Repetitive Motion Injury is especially important to think about each and every day. These types of injuries take time to aquire, so changing the way you approach your day to day activities can prove to be vital to preventing yourself from suffering a Repetitive Motion Injury. Engineering and Education are the two most important E's in regards to this topic. Please perform your own research and take a step towards prevention and Respect your Hands!