Many businesses, often those with white-collar workers, have voluntarily instituted programs to prevent workplace injuries. They measure chair heights, computer keyboard distances, and other workstation details. They have full-time specialists who monitor how workers sit or stand at their jobs and ask for their suggestions. But those who may need the most protection tend to work for companies who may see unskilled, low-paid employees as expendable. Unions point to companies that have developed ergonomic programs and cut down on injuries and complaints, but sometimes only after pressure at the bargaining table.
Some companies try to head off the complaints, rather than fix the cause.
One business was sued by the federal government recently for conducting secret genetic testing of workers who filed claims for work-related injuries, to see if they had genetic predispositions to the injuries. That way the company could blame the workers instead of job conditions. There may be some truth to the claims of business that the new federal ergonomic standards were too broad and too costly. They would have affected some 100 million workers. They basically entailed educating workers about potential job-related injuries and how to report them, tailoring working conditions to prevent further injuries, and paying for medical treatment and disability in legitimate cases.