If you're like most researchers, as you plan experiments, chances are your to-do list takes precedence over your comfort. Bench work has a long history of causing physical woes, and as new technologies push the definition of "high-throughput," an increasing number of labs are becoming more like assembly lines. Even with better automation, ergonomics problems are on the rise in the lab, says David Rempel, a researcher in occupational medicine from the University of California, San Francisco.
That's because many labs are ill-equipped for the increase in efficiency. "The problem is, when someone sets up the lab environment, those decisions, rarely, if ever, involve ergonomics decisions," says Blake McGowan, senior consultant and ergonomics engineer at Humantech, a company in Ann Arbor, Mich. From heavy culture plates and liquid containers in large, automated labs to hours-long microscope work and the use of small forceps or other tools that increase pinch forces ...
