Ergonomic?

today we visited the Tzu Chi temple/headquarters in should i say the heart Hualien? hehe. and did some voluntary work there. it was a privilege and an honour to be able to meet the founder of the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, Dharma Master Cheng Yen in person. she was really friendly and welcoming :) we split into 2 groups to work on 1. gardening - the foundation has their very own vegetable garden where they mass produce their own organic vegetables. great for a very healthy lifestyle.

2. and secondly, in the Dried Rice factory. we did packaging work.

being air-con loving and having extremely enthusiastic outdoor loving friends teehee, i ended up in the 2nd group doing packaging indoors. now this is a 1st hand and 1st time experience working on packaging in a factory. (it wasnt really a factory la actually cz the condition was pretty comfortable and it was air coned. :D) so throw away all images of a dusty grey room filled with machines.

now after about i think 4 hours more or less of standing and sorting out packages + sitting down packaging small packets of dried rice + preservatives + flavoring working on a low table, i say:

SALUTATIONS to all factory workers in this world.

*thundering applause*

midway process i was suffering from:

1. superficial scratches on my fingers

2. boredom

3. stiff neck - cervical disc prolapse alert!

4. freezing arms (ok lar i hav no reason to complain about this 1 hehe)

note note: i am in no way complaining about the work. i was really happy to help out and after how much the tzu chi foundation has been helping me, giving me the opportunity to do my elective posting in their hospital, this is just sth really minor i can pitch in to contribute. plus the ppl are really nice and hospitable.

i'm just illustrating what a factory worker goes through in her workplace. :) dont get me wrong yeah :P

now i really know how important it is to establish a safe and comfortable working environment (cue Public Health posting hehe) esp, for blue collar workers. most of us have taken for granted that hard manual labour = suffering uncomfortable conditions

not so after all. and shouldnt be the case.

even hard manual labourers should be afforded and given the best (meaning safest, least ergonomically hazardous) working environment.

1. gloves to protect the hands

2. tables / chairs at the correct height to avoid painful neck bending for long hours

3. necessary safety precautions

4. music? to soothe the senses hehe. or varying jobs for the worker once in a while.

i wont go into too much of that in detail. most of us do know what needs to be done to form an optimal working environment. reducing risks via reducing hazards and exposure.

let's just not forget about helping and giving others the most humane working environment we can afford them when we are in the position to. :)