This has occurred due to the occupational injuries and illnesses, the number of lost work days and mounting expenses associated with ergonomic issues. Because of the volume of products, services and techniques that have been introduced into the ergonomic field, risk managers have difficulty identifying the most appropriate steps to take. Similarly, workers' backs and trunks were the most common body parts affected. Various reports from insurance companies place the cost of ergonomics-related injury cases as high as 40 percent of total injury cost reported in the United States. Elements of a successful ergonomics program may include employee involvement and management commitment, accident review and evaluation, training and education, design of job functions and medical management.
Ergonomic issues overlap into risk management, safety, health care, and human resources.
They are concerned with the total number of injuries, and with eliminating or reducing the potential for injury. A conference sponsored by two federal agencies, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the Occupational Safety and Health administration was held in 1997 covering ways to make workplaces healthier and safer for business and industrial workers. Previously, these federal agencies were requested by Congress not to push ergonomics, but the ban on their involvement ran out in October. OSHA is now trying to come up with workplace standards that would reduce the risk of repetitive-stress injuries. OSHA has long been pushing for ergonomic standards that would protect the worker form muscular skeletal or cumulative trauma disorders caused by repetitive motion.