Thought Bytes...
June/July 2005

Ergonomics in the workplace: are your practices paltry, piecemeal, project or program? Part One looks at Paltry and Piecemeal ergonomics.

[This unabridged article was originally written by me and published in Canadian Occupational Safety Magazine in Autumn 2004].

Ergonomics: Paltry, Piecemeal, Project or Program

Where is your company on the continuum of ergonomics applications? Few companies have never heard of ergonomics, but some definitely are trying to ignore it. Many deal with ergonomics only when there is a specific issue. A few consider applying ergonomics within a department on the initiative of a manager if there is enough money in the budget. Even fewer include ergonomics as a corporate standard. One way to determine where your company lies is to look at who initiates any ergonomics changes. Is it the worker, the supervisor, the manager or the executives?

Project -- initiated by the managers
Littlefish Publishing Company is starting to look at ergonomics as an investment to improve their fiscal position. They realized that the majority of the WCB claims and complaints were happening in one department, so initially they brought in an Ergonomist to help the workers who were struggling with discomfort. The Ergonomist taught those workers correct working postures and made changes to furniture and equipment that had an immediate impact on their comfort. These workers were subsequently less distracted (and therefore more productive) and took less time off work for their various ailments and appointments.

At this stage, Littlefish was looking at ergonomics mostly as a cost avoidance plan. While there had been recommendations for improvements to the larger budget items, like chairs, there wasn't money allocated in the budget until the following year.

After a while, other workers started feeling left out. The management figured that if the workers who had seen the Ergonomist had benefited, maybe they could prevent some of the same problems from happening in the future. Because the workers didn't have specific physical concerns, they decided that some general information would be a good starting point and had the Ergonomist give a lunchtime seminar. To encourage participation, lunch was provided. To keep the information in people's minds, they decided to do an "Ergonomics Tip" each week by email.

Having talked with the Ergonomist a couple of times about the larger budget items, the company included money in the budget to replace 1/3 of the chairs each year for the next 3 years. They also included money in the budget for smaller items such as keyboard trays, monitors, keyboards, mice, and other products as the need arose.

What to do next?

• Workers need to offer peer support. They need to acknowledge that changing how you have done things for the past 20 years is difficult. Learning how to use the body in a different way or with different tools can be frustrating, but giving your co-workers permission to remind you to do it correctly will help.
• Supervisors need to be involved setting up workstations for new employees. This will require the supervisors to get some training so that they can teach correct working postures and know how to make adjustments to the work stations so that the new employees can use their bodies correctly. Making sure that ergonomics information is easily accessible by posting it on the company Intranet will avoid misinformation.
• Managers need to start applying the same concepts to other departments. It is a good idea to start small and see successes before applying ergonomics to all other areas. This will help to build a business case for ergonomics. In the end, there has to be a cost justification for the changes.
• Executives need to start looking at how other companies are applying ergonomics at a corporate level. Ergonomics is both a top down and bottom up system.

Program -- initiated by the executives
Ergonomics as a part of the corporate culture is the ideal. At this level, all decisions include the question: “Are there any ergonomic ramifications that we need to consider?” In the industrial workplace, this would include thinking through how each piece of equipment would be used, as well as how it would be maintained. Each worker would have regular ergonomics training to ensure that they know how to use their bodies and the equipment that they are provided with.

At Metro City the executives realized that poor ergonomics was expensive. Rising WCB premiums and sick days were affecting the bottom line. Workers were using their holidays to recover every couple of weeks and then their workload had to be shifted to other workers, who were then starting to feel the stresses. Long term workers were suffering and the cost of replacing each experienced worker was monumental.

A couple of Ergonomics projects in departments quickly demonstrated the financial benefits of applying ergonomics. The top-level executives learned from other organizations that implementing ergonomics will make money not just save WCB and insurance costs. They decided to take ergonomics from a project basis to a corporate program.

The first step is to create some internal resources. In a large company, this could take the form of an internal Ergonomist. In smaller organizations, or those with many branches or locations, this could be staff members who have been trained to teach co-workers correct working postures and how to makeadjustments to work stations to suit individual needs. Ideally all workers are trained in the use of their body and the equipment they use from the first day on the job.

Each location would also have an ergonomics committee. This could be a subcommittee of the Health and Safety committee or independent. Members of the Ergonomics Committee would include workers, supervisors, management, engineering, safety and maintenance. They would be given the responsibility of assessing any jobs identified as causing physical stress, creating a bottleneck in the system, or leading to undue wastage. When new equipment is considered, they would review it for ergonomic hazards in the operation and maintenance. In jobs that have a high risk of musculoskeletal injury, the ergonomics committee would work together to find a reasonable job rotation schedule - if other contributing risk factors could not be reduced.

How do you get from Paltry to Program?

It takes years to get to the program level where ergonomics is part of the corporate culture. The process is rarely a direct progression from one level to the next. As supervisors, managers and executives change, the process may backslide until the next person comes in and supplies new commitment and enthusiasm. But the key commitment has to come from both the top and the bottom. You can't move forward if the workers aren't willing, and enthusiasm will die if the corporate commitment isn't there. Moving forward requires identifying successes. Start small, with a modification that is certain to show benefits. Tell everyone in the company how easy it was, how little it cost and how it will help the company. Once you can show a positive impact on the “bottom line,” then the upper levels will buy in.

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