RSI Prevention and Response:
The Carnegie Mellon Plan

The CMU Plan comprises a ten point program as follows:

1. Strong Institutional Commitment. CMU's commitment to addressing the problem of RSI has the strong "top-down" support of the President, Provost, Deans, and other university officers, as well as the "bottom-up" support of students, faculty, and staff.

2. RSI Task Force. A standing committee of university faculty, staff, and administrators responsible for planning, coordinating, and managing all prevention and response activities.

3. Information Resources. The RSI Task Force has assembled up-to-date information on RSI prevention and response focused at a variety of audiences. These resources include:

• brochure
• poster
• project report
• web site

4. Computer Skills Workshop. All undergraduates receive training in RSI prevention methods in the university-wide course on computer skills.

5. Employee Orientation. New employees receive information on RSI prevention as part of their regular orientation to CMU.

6. Equipment Purchasing Guidelines. A "what to look for" guide to purchasing chairs and other workstation equipment essential for RSI prevention. Includes lists of preferred vendors and manufacturers, plus links to on-campus experts on workstation equipment purchasing.

7. Campus Outreach. A broad program of information dissemination and awareness directed at students, staff and faculty. Includes:

• network of administrative contacts in each college or major unit of the campus
• dissemination of brochures, posters, software, purchasing guidelines
• regular feature articles in campus media outlets: Tartan, Focus, etc.

8. Student Health Services. Professionals trained in dealing with RSI treatment and prevention. Links to off-campus specialists on RSI treatment, active involvement in on-campus prevention programs.

9. Workstation Evaluations. The university's ergonomic specialist conducts indi- vidual workstation evaluations in response to requests from staff, faculty or students.

10. Special Events. Periodic events to call attention to RSI prevention and response. First event to be a campus-wide competition to develop new break reminder software.