Australian Tax Office Seeks Keylogger To Combat RSI

schliz writes "The Australian Tax Office plans to track employees' keystrokes and mouse clicks in attempts to address the growing incidence of repetitive strain injuries (RSI) among staff. It hopes to purchase commercial, off-the-shelf 'pause or exercise break software' that delivers safety messages to users, while determining 'more information about the nature of computing use in the workplace.'"

Keystroke counter != Keylogger

[Billlagr]

Umm...no. Nothing to see here, move along. From TFA -

use of the proposed software would be voluntary and intended only to count keystrokes and mouse clicks rather than the content of the work being completed

RSIGuard

[peterofoz]

This one seems ok. We use it at work also. http://www.rsiguard.com/ [rsiguard.com]

Workrave

[Compaqt]

Works great.

It's available for Win and Lin [workrave.org].

You can set times for mini-breaks and full breaks separately. Full breaks lead you through a configurable series of animated exercises.

I can vouch that they really do work if you do them diligently.

It allows you to (configurably) cancel or postpone a break, but it's geared toward locking the screen so you you're less tempted to skip breaks. You can even set a max time on the computer per day plus log work/breaks on the network.

Click here to install [apt] in Debian/Ubuntu/Mint

Body Insight

[jrozzi]

There are companies who focus on these kind of things and can help individuals who work on computers with training exercises and other ways to prevent RSI, back and neck pain, knee pain, etc. I have gotten a lot of help from Body Insight [bodyinsight.com]. They also suggest the use of RSIGuard.

Re:Nothing to do with clicks!

[blackest_k]

But when I'm hurting, there's almost nothing I can do to not make it hurt.

May I recommend a cod liver oil or Omega 3 capsule a day. While I can offer no scientific evidence other than it works for me. My Doctor diagnosed me with carpal tunnel and my fingers were in a terrible state (playing a guitar became impossible since i couldn't hold a chord without severe pain). I decided to take the capsules to help my over all level of health (and they were cheap enough to buy) I already was taking a bunch of other meds due to diabetes and a heart attack so one more thing to take was no big deal.

The results were unexpected but my physical symptoms disappeared of course when i got to the end of the bottle I stopped and within 2 weeks the pain returned. I restarted and have had very little trouble since.
I've been taking 1 a day now for around 2 years now. It seems to work for other people I know as well.

Nothing to lose by trying it for a month and seeing if it improves things. Has anyone else any experience with cod liver oil / omega 3 giving relief or not ?

And it won't help...

[Todd Knarr]

Keystroke and mouse movement information won't help. The information you need is "What hand/forearm position are the typists using?", and software can't record that.

To quote my typing teacher, "*smack* Wrists UP!".

NB: proper typing position has the forearms parallel to floor, back of hand flat relative to top of forearm. Raise or lose the seat to achieve this. Fingers should dangle onto the keys, if the first fingerbone is horizontal your seat is too low and needs raised slightly.

Re:RSIGuard

[dr_dex]

Or use the free WorkRave program for Windows. You can find it at workrave.org. I must admit that at times I find these RSI-prevention programs a bit annoying, but it is when they actually tell you to stop that you need it the most (to avoid RSI).

Re:RSI or...

[thegarbz]

RSI is not a bandwagon, it's not something you can use to get a day off. Quite simply because it's not an issue that appears and disappears overnight, it's a long term problem. My girlfriend really loves her job at a bakery, but after years of preparing the icing on donuts she now can't make that movement without physical pain. Other movements are fine, and she still beats me at tennis, but that specific wave of the hand that is repeated over and over again when icing a tray of donuts is completely out of the question. She is slowly recovery now. She has been banned from icing for the last 12 months and is moving onto other activities.

I like my job too yet quite frequently I'll spend all day typing some crap long-winded report. I don't want to do that in pain down the line. But I likely won't have that problem. My office is assessed frequently by ergonomic specialists. Last time round they got me a bigger monitor for no other reason than every so often I cram too much stuff on the screen and lean forward slightly. But then I also have back problems too.

Ergonomics is a serious issue. Treat it like one.