Safety App Of The Week

July 22, 2013 No Comments

Below is our “Safety App of the Week”.  These weekly features are published every Monday.  New apps are tested on Apple iPads and rated from ♥ to ♥♥♥♥♥ (♥♥♥♥♥ is the best).  Prior app of the week articles are archived here.

Ergonomics

Official Description  

“Reached #7 in the Productivity section of the App Store!  Winner of the People’s Choice Award for the Department of Labor Worker Safety and Health App Challenge!

Ergonomics is a complete mobile workplace health solution that offers ergonomic equipment setup advice, a variety of workplace specific stretching exercises, and programmable reminders to help you time your breaks.

Several recent studies have shown that sitting for extended periods of time is detrimental to your health and wellness and can shorten life expectancy. Researchers, wellness experts, and journalists are all coming to the same conclusion: it is extremely beneficial to take short stretch breaks during your work day.

Meanwhile, people are just not moving as much as they used to, especially in the workplace. Instant messaging has replaced walking over to a colleague’s cubicle for a chat. PDFs and online documents have all but replaced trips to the copying machine. Online food delivery sites make it unnecessary to even step out for a lunch break.

Large corporations frequently use desktop software to encourage employees to take workplace breaks because of the strong positive correlation between health and productivity – and now, Ergonomics brings all of the benefits of workplace wellness to you. “¹

Thumbs Up

• cost is only $.99
• no registration or sign in required
• well organized – easy and logical to use without any instruction
• visually attractive
• keeps score of completed training for each user
• tells how to ergonomically set up office equipment
• offers twelve timed stretches
• has an alarm function that tells you when it’s time to stretch
• can be used off-line

Thumbs Down

• this app is only for office workers, it is far to simplistic to be used in a factory environment
• only 12 stretches are included, there should be many more to help keep workers from getting bored

Overall Rating

• factory workers – ♥♥
• office workers – ♥♥♥♥
• overall average for all types of workers – ♥♥♥

¹ Descriptions courtesy of Apple Inc.

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