Bosses of SMEs should encourage their staff to "take lots of breaks" and to "get up and move around frequently" to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI), one expert has claimed.
According to Bronwyn Clifford, a chartered occupational therapist and director of Physio at Work, RSI is cause by awkward or static postures, high rates of repetition or exertion of force.
She said: "[Employees] should change their tasks so they are not just typing all day - alternate between writing, reading, going to do some photocopying or filing and going to meetings, so that they are not just sitting in front of a computer screen eight hours a day."
Figures released by RSI Awareness indicate that musculoskeletal disorders of the upper and lower limbs are a major problem in the workplace and costs industry around £20 billion a year in terms of lost production.
The economic costs of RSI can include sick payments, replacing workers who are forced to leave work and poor worker morale.
